Malicious
by CandleHeadButt
Summary: It has been one year since the events that took place in Litwak's Aracde. Fix-it-Felix Jr. is celebrating another anniversary, Sugar Rush is celebrating a year without King Candy but some unexpected visitors have turned up to spoil the fun.
1. Chapter 1

*October 28th, 2013*

"Look pal, Are ya gonna order something?" asked the barkeep, looking down at the hood figure in annoyance.

"Just givth me 'nother lime sprithzer, heavy on the syrup this time…" the figure responded in a gruff tone, his eyes not leaving the counter.

"Look, maybe I should give you tha bottle and put some seltzer in there for ya? Does that sound nice?"

The figure then glared at the man, its eyes piercing him to the very core. The barkeep took a step back once he realized that he might have gone a bit too far in this little jab but to his surprise, the man under the hood began to smile.

At least it LOOKED like a smile. By the way its teeth were jutting out, one would be unable to tell if it were a smile or a sneer that came before the final, life-severing bite.

"I-I'll get ya another glass. No charge on any of the drinks!" the barkeep said, running off.

The figure placed an arm on the table; it had been too long. He was sure they would both be at the bar HOURS ago but as time ticked away, he saw no one, at least no one matching the description that he was informed of.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusthed those wanth adths!" the man cursed to himself, his claws tightening.

The barkeep placed the drink in front of the figure, quickly walking away.

"Oh wellth, even if I DON'T find 'em, at least the drink were free tonight…." Said the character, rolling his eyes and preparing to take a drink.

His lips were nearly to glass when suddenly…

"AW CRAP!"

"EVERYONE RUN!"

He turned his head, seeing several characters flee from the area but being new in the game, he had not a clue was to what was going on. Perhaps the big-bad main was showing up and everyone was afraid of him.

No, it wasn't like that at all.

An uncomfortable silence befell the bar as the soft tapping of footsteps approached.

"Ya hungry?" said a soft, gentle voice.

NO response.

"Hmm, good. I heard this place has the BEST grub n' town!"

The doors of the bar flew open, revealing a….

A woman?

Who was she?

The figure craned his neck a bit as to get a better look, seeing that the woman was not alone but followed by someone, or SOMETHING, else.

The creature was enormous; a massive collection of dark blue fur and scraggly looking legs but despite its mass, its movements were fluid, almost as if it were hiding the fact that it was actually HOVERING above the ground rather the walking. The woman looked around, a smirk on her face.

Even she looked out of place; her design didn't fit in with the game. IN fact it didn't fit in with ANY game.

There was just something off about the way she looked and moved; as if she were programmed not for a game but for something else entirely.

She turned, tickling her massive creature under its chin.

"Aww, don't worry. It won't take that long! We just have to have a talk an' then we can get some dinner, okay Boo?"

The creature seemed to purr but it didn't react like an animal but in a much more human like response. It then lumbered over to the corner, sitting away from the counter but close enough to keep an eye on everything that was going on.

All FIVE of its eyes.

The figure quickly turned, trying to pretend that it hadn't noticed the two come in or the fact that the female of the two was now approaching the bar.

"Barkeep?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Gimme a Rose Petal Warmer, extra hard."

"Sure thing sweetie."

"Rose Petal Warmer?" the figure said "I haven't heard that since-!"

"'87? Heh, yeah. It's a classic but it's one of my favorites."

The drink was set before the woman and she took a sip, "So, what did you want from us?"

"Excuth me?" the figure said, a chill going down its spine.

"We didn't come all this way for nothin' ya know. You called, we came. Now all I need to know is WHY you called…."

It couldn't have been.

But it was.

These were the two that the figure had been searching for! To say the least, he was a little perplexed. He didn't expect his guest to look the way that they did.

He was expecting something more…more….

Primal? Monstrous?

"Bug got your tongue?" the woman said, taking another sip of her drink.

"Thorry….it's justh that I don't want anyone ta know what…what I have planths for."

"You want some silence do ya?" the woman smiled, putting her drink down. She then turned towards the bar keep.

"Darlin'?"

"Er, yes?"

"Is there a nice, hidden place me an' my bubbies can go so we can have us a widdle chat?" the woman cooed, her big eyes fluttering.

"S-sorry ma'am, this place ain't that big so…"

"Oh but surly, you have somethin'? Like a closet, one that's close to your code vault?"

The barkeep jumped back, shocked that she would bring up something like that.

"W-what are you talkin' about?! WHO ARE YA?!"

Before the keep could say anything else, the woman sneered, her eyes shrinking down as her hands moved back. She then lunged forward, stabbing the character in his side. He gave a muffled cry but soon his code began to disintegrate before her, being absorbed into her claws.

"Hmmm, not a bad snack….I had better though."

The figure looked in awe, stunned at the woman's brashness to even dare trying something like that in public.

"The vault is back here…" she said, moving towards the back.

She then turned, glaring at the figure on the stool.

"COME ON!"

The figure then jumped from his seat, following the woman and her companion to the back of the bar.

* * *

"So, lemme get this straight….You want US to take care of some people?" the woman asked, looking rather unimpressed.

"YEEESTH!" hissed the figure, his grin growing "I heard ya two could do some pretty good clean sweeps so that's why I went out lookin' for ya!"

"Well, ya know my h-My PARTNER and I. We try to keep a low profile as best we can but, huh, I guess you can't help being talked about when you've done so much!"

"Indeed….but I ask ya THIS." The figure asked "What would ya say ta takin' down an entire ARCADE?"

The woman and her creature looked at each other for a moment and a second later, the woman began to laugh.

"H-hold up! You want us to take down an ENTIRE arcade?"

"Isth that too much of a challenge?" the figure asked.

"Nooooooooooooooooot reeeeeeeeeeeeeally…." The woman said, stretching a bit "I mean, ol Tor an I have taken down a great deal of games in our life time. Maybe they would equal up to an entire arcade but…."

"But?"

"But I don't think we've ever taken down a game in ONE DAY."

The figure rubbed its hands together "It doesn't havth to be one day! If ya can just get the lot of them unplugged, ith al fine with me!"

"Goodness, sweety! Ya seem ta have some plans cookin' in that head of yours!" the woman laughed cheekily, poking the figure on its exposed forehead.

"Trusth me….I do havth planths….An' I want them taken care of!"

The woman snorted a laugh as she crossed her arms, "I like your style. Cold, calculating….how come I've never heard of ya before?"

"I-I'm not whath you would call a thetoned profethional as yourthelf."

"Pro?" the woman said in an almost bored tone "I wouldn't call ourselves PROS….Even THOUGH we HAVE been on the job since '96 an' taken out more than 100 games on our own, ahem!"

"Including?"

"Don't like ta brag….but there was an arcade in San Fran? Hero's Duty? Didn't even stand a chance!"

The figure's eyes widened once he heard that name.

"H-Hero's DUTY?"

"I take it you're not a fan?" the woman asked, her eye brow arching.

"Not at ALL….."

The woman snickered as she reached into her bag, tossing a name badge towards the figure.

"Heh, then ya should be happy ta know that THIS is all that remains of that game…"

The figure picked up the badge.

Sgt. T. Calhoun.

Seeing this only made the figure even more excited, an evil cackle escaping its throat.

"Miss, this is going to be a wonderful relationthip!"

"Sorry shorty, already in one. Let's just call this a short-term partnership!"

"Fine and you WILL be rewarded once the job is done!"

"Heh, babe? Watching games crumble IS our reward!" the figure said.

"WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?!"

"OH MY PROGRAMMERS IS THAT CARL?!"

The two looked at each other for a moment; looks like they had been spotted.

"Darn it! Justh what we need now!"

"Hold on a second…" the woman said, holding the figure back "I got this covered."

The woman then exited the hall, reentering the bar and seeing several in-game characters rounded up at the counter as they looked at the tangled remains of the code of the barkeep.

"Goodness, is something wrong?"

The first character, a rather large guy, looked down at the woman. At first he didn't suspect anything but she was acting much too cool, too calm and he knew something was up.

"W-Wait! Who are you?!"

"Oh, not even a HI? We're movin' awfully QUICK aren't we?"

The man moved forward, grabbing the woman by the collar and lifting her off the ground.

"I'm gonna try this again. WHO. ARE. YOU?!"

The woman brushed a hair from her eyes, not backing down a bit.

"Dear, even if I told you, that wouldn't matter."

The man looked in shock for a second but without warning, a great wave of pain shot through him. He let out a scream as he dropped the woman, only to look down to see what appeared to be her HAND going right through him, but instead of fingers, there were only oddly shaped digits, sharp as blades. The woman gave a horrid sneer, clicking her tongue.

"Bad call."

She then yanked her digits out before lifting the man up with her left foot, kicking him into the air and chomping down on his side once he came down.

"WHOA!" the figure said from behind the corner "I-I gueeth you're usthed to THAT?!" he said to the creature who was still with him.

The other character screamed, horrified at what she had seen but the beast of a woman turned, her eyes becoming more animal like as she set her sights on the others. She dropped the man on the ground and with a snarl, she slashed her way through the other characters, going through them one after another. The figure could only look in utter awe at what he was seeing but he couldn't turn away either.

"G-goodneth!"

Before long, the entire group was cut down, their code swirling as it had been corrupted in the process and in the midst of it all stood the woman, fluffing up her curly hair as she looked around.

"Ah, and I did it all without breaking too much of a sweat!"

"Y-You really are thumthing elth, aren't you?" said the figure as he slinked from the corner.

The woman turned her neck rather quickly, giving him a smile that was not unlike that of a madman after his kill.

"You already know what we are! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT!?"

"So what's nexth?"

"What's NEXTH?" the woman said in a teasing tone, picking over the remains for anything she thought looked good "We go on to that arcade or yours, that's what!"

The figure nodded; he knew he was taking a risk but with these two helping it, he was sure that it would all pay off in the end. The figure then lowered it hood before the two, standing tall and towering over the woman.

"So….THAT'S who you are…." She replied, looking non-too concerned at the matter.

"Yeth…." The figure said bowing and taking the woman's hand before kissing it "Don't let tha new add-ons scare you my dear. They are no more dangerous than YOU are."

"Which is to say, they ARE dangerous…."

"Hmm, ya got me there…."

Just at that moment, the creature pounced on the larger figure, holding him to the ground and snarling at him.

"WHOA! WHOA! TOR! ITS OKAY!" said the woman, pulling the large creature off the other man "Ya know there is NO WAY I would do that to ya! He was just bein' polite!"

"Indeed!" the figure said, brushing off the dirt from his arms "And I HOPE that ANIMAL of yours is kepth-!"

"I TOLD YOU." Said the woman, her features turning a bit into something just as monstrous as the creature she stood in front of "HE is NOT an ANIMAL. HE is NOT my PET. HIS name is TOR and you will address him as such or this deal is OFF, got it?!"

The figure crossed his arms, snorting. "Alright, alright. My mithtake….But now we gotta get outta here before the entire game is afther us!"

The woman threw back her head and laughed "Do you REALLY expect me ta just run like I'm some sort of common game-jumper?! I already knew what I was gonna do with this place the moment I stepped in!"

"And….that is?"

The woman took the figure by his clawed hands, pulling him back into the hall and going to the code vault.

"Don't ya need a pass-?!"

"For this game? HAH! All I need is THIS!"

And with that, the woman slammed her fist onto the vault door, the metal starting to corrode as her powers began to leech through it.

"Now, to have some FUN."

* * *

There was a large boom from inside the bar, followed by a mighty tremor that shook everyone in the game.

Characters were screaming, running for their lives but even as they attempted to escape, their code began to corrupt and freeze. The entire structure of the game began to fall in on itself, the entire program crashing!

Outside the game, the two kids who were playing had no idea what there in for. Just as the first kid was about to move his character, the screen began to show static and then…

"What is THAT?!"

An unknown symbol flashed on the screen just as the entire game shut down.

"H-Hey, WHAT?!" the second kid cried, shaking the cabinet back and forth.

"Aw, don't tell me it's BUSTED!"

Inside the arcade station, other characters could only look in horror as the game succumbed to the virus attack, any attempts of reaching in for a rescue futile.

"Oh my goodness!"

"H-how could it just crash like that?!"

Unbeknownst to the onlookers, a bright flash appeared near a back wall, a clawed hand cutting through what seemed to be nothing and jumping out.

"See, it's easier than ya think!" said the woman, followed by the creature known as Tor and the other unknown figure.

"Th-! That was rather tha rush!" the figure said as it tried to stand steady on its feet.

"Just imagine that happenin' ta ALL tha game in this arcade of yours! It'll be tha best show you'll ever see!"

The three headed for the nearest wall outlet towards the black cords.

"So how far is this place again?"

"Its quith the trip so we might be travelin' for a while!"

"Don't worry, Tor an' I LOVE travelin'!"

The three then dove into the depths of the cord, moving a lot faster than what the figure had expected.

"Tho….I didn't get your name back there…"

The woman looked back, that devious grin once again appearing on her face.

"Mal. The name is Mal."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two- Brain Storm

*November 1st, 2013*

"Hey, steady with that beam Don! We already have had enough injuries today as it is!" Gene said, leading a few of the Nicelander men from the cord of Fix-it-Felix Jr. to the middle of the station.

"Calm down, Gene!" Don chortled "You act like this place is gonna fall apart with the way you're carrying about!"

"You're not the one who has the entire arcade watching you to make sure this party goes off without a hitch!" the man paced back and forth, going over a long list of things on a clipboard.

"The decorations are being set up as we speak! Is the food being taken care of?" Nel said as she walked over to Gene.

"Ah, yes!" Gene said happily, flipping a few pages of the list over "Just make sure everything is in order so I can get this off PERFECTLY!"

"Whoa, simmer down there Big Gene!" Mary said with a chuckle, pulling Gene gently by his ear "You're acting as if TWENTY ARACDES are going to show up for this!"

"My dear, when we're having an ARCADE WIDE celebration, everything MUST be in order!"

"Alright, alright! But don't work yourself into a tizzy, Genie." The woman said, giving the mayor a peck on the cheek "We have other friends who are helping us out with this so don't you dare think for a moment YOU have to do everything!"

Gene couldn't help being so excited for the upcoming event and honestly, who could blame ANYONE for being excited?

While it was Wreck-it-Ralphs' thirty-first anniversary there was something much bigger happening.

For the first time ever, the entire Litwak arcade was holding a station wide celebration to celebrate the anniversary of what could have been a horrific event for everyone.

The one year celebration that King Candy had been had been defeated.

Games were chatting about the event all year long, coming up with things to do, events to throw! You name it, it was going to be done!

And at the heart of it all were four characters, looking around in awe at how busy things were becoming.

Vanellope was beside herself in glee, watching everything form and build up around her. It was if Sugar Rush and all the other exciting places she had visited once she was able to get out of her game had combined into one huge event.

"Aw MAN! This is gonna be SWEET!" the racer said, hopping around and glitching everywhere.

"Hey, calm down kid!" Ralph chuckled, taking the little girl the hand and placing her on his shoulders "Don't wanna blow all your energy before the festivities begin!"

"I know but it's so haaaaaaaaaaaaard!" Vanellope pouted "Can't I just see ONE thing?! PLEASE?!"

"I dunno…." Ralph teased, rubbing his chin as he peered over at Calhoun "Should we?"

"She is the president of her own game! Let the lil tyke make her own choice!" the woman said with a smile.

"ALRIIIIIIIIIIGHT! I'M GONNA GO TO THE STAGE AN' SING MY HEART OUT!"

"Oh please, save that torture for TOMMOROW!" Ralph laughed.

"Like YOU have room to complain about MY singin', stink-breath!" the racer said, sticking out her tongue.

"Yeah? Then let's see missy!" the wrecker grinned, joining his friend to the stage.

"Man, it's hard ta believe that somethin' like THIS would come from all that calamity last year!" said Felix, looking around as the entire station was setting up.

"As they say, good things can come from the worst situations!" Calhoun said, smirking "Like winnin' the final battle of a game, just when you've discovered you're the last one after your entire team has been gobbled up by Cybugs!"

"Ya joke now, but things could have come ta that had Nelly an' Ralph not done anythin'!" Felix replied, sounding a bit concerned much to Calhoun's surprise.

"Why the sudden turn, Felix? You were so happy a sec ago!"

"Well…." The man began "I am excited for this Tammy, I really am….it's just….."

"It's just what?"

"I dunno. Nerves I guess!" the man said, a smile reappearing on his face "I just don't want anythin' ta happen while everyone is havin' fun, 's all!"

"If anyone even TRIES to pull somethin' funny, you know me an' my team will be there!" Calhoun nodded, patting one of her many guns on her holster.

Felix gulped. He knew how trigger happy his wife could be and in the midst of a crowd, if ONE thing went wrong….

Well, it would be more exciting, that's for sure!

"Hopefully, things won't come to that!"

"Aw, Felix. You worry too much! C'mon, let's go get Ralph and Vanellope before they butcher another song!"

"Another?" asked Felix.

"AIIIIIIIII WANNAAAAAAAAAAAAA FLY HIIIIIGH!" screamed the familiar sound of Vanellope, familiar because ANYONE could recognize that screeching miles away.

Felix shuddered, "I see what ya mean…."

It was truly a wonderful thing how safe Litwak's had become after so many incidents; First there was King Candy and then there was the virus take down on Sugar Rush. After so many precautions, everyone was certain that nothing could harm the station again and if even there was a minor hiccup, there would always be a team ready to go at a moment's notice.

Yes, the citizens of Litwak's were at ease and it was a wonderful thing.

But maybe all that ease was what let them wide open.

Miles away in the cord, a trio were making their way through the dark, inky depths of the cord.

"I've alwayth hathed this…." Hissed the hunched figure, trying his best to make his way over the crags and rough roads.

"Puh, typical green-horn complaints…" snickered Mal, looking back at the figure "Ya made your way all the way to that other arcade, why are ya complain' NOW?"

"Well, EXCUTH ME for not wantin' ta get my feet dirty in this muck! I'm much more used ta bein' a bit more….CLEAN."

"Hmmph, well. Can't help ya there. The back-roads are ALWAYS like this." Mal said, rolling her eyes as she pressed on "But once we get up further…."

"Further?" asked the figure.

Mal turned back, giving the stranger a puzzled look "Ya SERIOUSLY missed a LOTTA things goin' down these roads, haven't ya?"

The woman then reached back and took the figure by the hand, pulling him atop Tor, the beast grunting as the weight was forced on him.

"Aww, sorry baby but our 'GUEST' needs ta be shown where tha REAL viruses hang out!"

"Um, where are we go-?!"

"KOWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Mal shouted at the top of her lungs, arms flailing about.

"WHA-YAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

And with that, Tor took off, the beast more or less GLIDING through the air and tearing heck through the cords. Mal laughed madly at the speed, her hair blowing right into the face of the figure.

"AW MAN! THERE'S NOTHIN' LIKE FLYIN' TA MAKE TRAVELIN' BETTER!"

"Ack! ACK! Sorry, but my view back here isn't that- AURGH!"

A sharp turn!

Tor weaved and dove through formations and tunnels alike, somehow able to see them minutes before they showed up. Needless to say, the figure was impressed. While he was used to speed, there was just something about the way these two handled it that took him for a loop.

"Th-thay, um. Ya two wouldn't happen ta have thum skill in RACING would ya?"

Mal looked back, the look on her face like that of a surprised child "RACING? Are you asking if WE have partaken in RACING?"

The woman cackled loudly, appearing less and less as if she were fully in control.

"No baby, but I've taken down a few racin' games myself!" the woman said, her voice growing deeper, her smile stretched horribly on her face. "Racers taste goooooooooood!"

Tor took another sharp dive, going into a cave but as soon as they faced the light.

BOOM.

A city? A village?

Whatever it was, there were people and stalls everywhere.

What was this place?

The figure looked around; he was surrounded by strange figures, many of them looked familiar but others looked as twisted and as strange as Mal and her partner.

Viruses.

More and more sentient viruses!

"W-where are we?"

"Where do ya think?" Mal said, hopping off of Tor's back "Welcome ta, one of many, BLACK MARKETS!"

"Black MARKETS?"

"Ah yes…." Mal said, chortling as she adjusted the bag on her back "It's fine establishments like this that Tor an' I call home when we're on the road….which to say, is a LOT!"

Mal began to make her way through the stalls, peering at the displays, carefully combing (and stealing) at the items.

"Ya need some illegal powers ups? Ya head here! Ya need some upgrades that they don't make anymore since the game is obsolete? COME HERE! Ya need some quick cash an' a code or two?"

"Come here?" finished the figure.

"NOW YOU'RE GETTING' IT!" Mal rang out in delight, patting the figure a might too hard on the head.

"Bu-but whath with all these…characters here?! I mean, I haven't seen so many characters gathered in one place since-!?"

The figure stopped, his mouth dropping as he saw a familiar face.

A familiar, RAGGED looking face.

"I-is that CENTIPEDE?!" he chocked out in surprise, seeing the character chatting it up with what he had to guess was a virus "I haven't seen him since-!"

"Since Game Central Station at Litwak's?"

The figure stopped, looking Mal right in the eyes. A catty grin formed on her face as she looked up at the figure.

"Seriously babe, ya didn't have ta hide it from me for long." She said with a grin "Ya SERIOUSLY thought I was too stupid to know who THE TURBO was?"

The figure shivered, once again removing his cloak and standing tall revealing his true form;

Turbo.

Or perhaps King Candy?

Or maybe a little of both?

Whatever the form, Turbo had seen better days. While he had not fully died in the blast, his code was horribly damaged due to the reset, his box having been deleted but all the corrupted data still existing within him. While not as massive as his true Cybrid form, the figure still stood tall, towering over Mal by a good five feet. Parts of his legs and arms were a jumble of both a Cybug and his own original design of Turbo and while his face seemed to resemble King Candy, it was cold and grey.

Just like Turbo.

To say that the man was a mess would be an understatement but as he stood amongst the crowd, he noticed something.

No one was looking at him.

No one was screaming, pointing, or even looking out of curiosity.

It took a second for the man to realize what was happening but it all made sense.

He was surrounded by people like him.

Game-jumpers, viruses, corrupted data!

No wonder Mal had taken him to this place! This was a place just for people like him!

A place he could move around without being noticed and where plans of revenge would go about unchecked and unchallenged!

Turbo was liking this place more and more but he also knew that if he wanted what he truly desired, he needed to get busy.

"I'm glad that my figure doesn't SCARE you, my dear…" the man cooed, placing a finger under Mal's chin, "But there is a little discussion of what we're going to do ONCE we get to Litwak's!"

Mal nodded, a devilish twinkle in her eye "From the way you say that, you make the place sound like a wonderful smorgasbord of victims…I mean….Yes, I meant VICTIMS."

Turbo chuckled, leading the two to an alley way; he was still cautious about letting ANYONE know about his plans. Who knew if Centipede would tattle on him!

"While I will leth you have as much as you want with the OTHER people there, there are four characters in par-thicular that I want ERASED!"

"Oooooh!" Mal said, fluttering her eyelashes "Sounds like assassination? That's like FUUUUN!"

"Exactly!" Turbo said "They're TOUGH together but theein' that you took out ONE of 'em before, I think this should be easy for ya!"

"By the way you say that, I guess I'm comin' head ta head with anther Hero's Duty game?"

"Yup!"

"Heh, sounds easy enough!" Mal smiled "But who else is on the choppin' block?"

"Two goons from this ANCIENT game…Fix-it-Felix Jr!"

"Never heard of it…." Mal said in an unimpressed voice, rolling her eyes.

""An' a little….."

Turbo stopped. He clinched his claws together, his eyes glowing yellow in anger. Mal just blinked, a little surprised by the man's sudden actions.

"Yes, go on?"

"This little…GLITCH who stole all my fame and glory! Everytime I hear her name! EVERYTIME I JUST SEE HER LITTLE SMIRKIN' FACE! I WANT TO-!"

"Whoa, whoa. Put on some slow-down shoes an' simmer down, big fella…" Mal said gently, patting Turbo on the shoulder "I get it, ya hate this GLITCH….whoever she might be."

"Vanellope…Vanellope Von Schweetz….." Turbo growled, his fangs bearing "I want you to make her suffer the most!"

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL!" Mal said, crossing her legs "When ya say SUFFER, how bad do ya want it? Tor an' I have a whole cornucopia or ways! Instant corruption and crashin'! Eatin' our way through their friends! Just tossin' 'em around for fun! Ya name it!"

"I DON'T CARE!" roared Turbo, becoming more Cybug like the more angrier he became "I JUST WANT THA LITTLE BRAT RIPPED TO SHREDS!"

Mal thought for a moment; she knew what this boy wanted.

"Hmmm, big boy here is AMBITIOUS." The woman cackled, curling her hair in her fingers "But I feel we need ta go BIGGER with this if ta wanna take out all these losers!"

"Bigger?" said Turbo, calming down a bit.

"Mmm-HMMM. Ya just can't go tearin' around like some wild animal! Ya wanna make these little bits of pixels shake in their shoes? Ya gotta make them face their biggest nightmares!"

And with that, Mal's form shift, becoming less and less human and more flame like, her evil grin and piercing eyes still shining through.

"Ya get what I'm sayin'?" she hissed.

Turbo wasn't so sure but at this point, he was willing to do ANYTHING to finally have his revenge on those who had ripped his paradise from him. He looked back at Mal and Tor; Tor just sat there in silence, the beast turning his head away from the former racer. Mal had begun to hover off the ground, turning on her back and smiling up at the larger character.

"Ya mean ta tell me that you could FLY an' ya didn't back there?" the man asked, looking at Mal in contempt.

The woman giggled cutely, going right towards the cybrid's face "The choice is yours. Ya just gotta tell me WHEN."

On one hand, Turbo knew that the two were right but the sudden realization that he was making deals with VIRUSES hit him.

But if they even so much as TRIED anything, he could always stop them!

Right?

He hesitated but the thought of seeing Vanellope and the others screaming for mercy only whetted his appetite more.

That little brat and her friends had the nerve to wreck EVERYTHING he had built, EVERYTHING that he had made and molded with his own hands. And even more insulting? Because of their meddling, he was now stuck in his corrupted cyrbid form! It wasn't even as powerful as his much beloved, true cybrid body but he knew that if he laid ONE eye on the four….

Lights out.

He had to go through with this, no matter what! He wasn't going to let those do-gooders enjoy their lives, not when his had become such a nightmare!

He cackled, rubbing his hands together "M'lady, lead the way!"

Mal snickered evilly, floating right up to Turbo and giving him a playful kiss on the nose "Darlin', this is gonna be the BEST game crash EVER!"

* * *

"THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST GAME BASH EVER!" Vanellope said, jumping up and down as she made her way down the rainbow bridge, her friends following in tow.

"Y-Yeah, sure it will be…" yawn Swizzle, exhausted from setting things up all day "But I need ta crash. Don't wanna miss out on anything tomorrow!"

Candlehead on the other hand was just as energized as Vanellope, her candle sparking brightly "EEEEEIII! All those cakes and music! And cakes and games! AND CAKE!"

The girl's mouth was practically water at the very thought of all the goodies that would be there. Who could sleep now when there was FOOD?

"Hello, is anyone there cake-for-brains!" Taffyta said playfully, knocking Candlehead on her head. "We haven't LOST ya, have we?"

"Aw, c'mon Taffy! Lighten up!" the raven headed racer said as she gave Taffyta a playful push forward. "C-Butt has the right idea!"

"I know thaaaat!" the girl whined a bit "I'm just hopin' we don't run into any more freaking trouble this time! It's like, every time we plan something, something else comes along to blow up in our face!"

"Pfft, you're starting ta sound like FELIX!" Vanellope laughed.

"AM NOT!" Taffyta pouted.

"Then stop being such a pretzel stick in the fudge, Taff! An' besides, if anything did happen, I can always count on the Sugar Rush brigage to come in and kick butt!"

"RIGHT-O!" Candlehead said, saluting Vanellope incorrectly "We didn't get those badges for nothin', ya know!"

"AT EASE, COMMANDER CANDLE-BUTT!" Vanellope said powerfully, clicking her shoes together.

"Okay, now YOU'RE just teasin' her…."

Vanellope smirked "Yeah, an there's a problem in that Hooooow?"

Taffyta crossed her arms but a smile began to force its way on her face.

"Doooh, okay. Sorry if I've been…DOWN but I want to actually have FUN this time!"

Vanellope put an arm around Taffyta, "An' we will! There is NOTHIN' that is gonna get in the way of this party!"

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAH! PARTY!" Candlehead cried, doing cartwheels all the way down the rainbow slide….all before bowling over several candy people once she made her way to the main village.

"Should I tie her to bed?" Gloyd grumbled.

* * *

"Okay! So far, everything's runnin' smoothly!" Felix said, looking over the massive station, the entire area ready of the celebration the following day. "The main stage is set, lights are all up an' have been checked! The venue area is clear so-!"

"C'mon, baby! It's late, let's go home!" Calhoun said, waving over to her husband.

"Inna a minuet, Tammy! I just wanna make sure-!"

Before Felix could go on, he felt the strong arms of his wife lifting him off the ground. The woman gave him an upset look….

But it then tuned into a smile.

"Home. NOW."

Felix smiled, his cheeks turning even redder than before.

"Alright, dear. We can go home."

And with that, everyone returned to their games. The station was empty, not sound to be heard.

Bzzt.

A light.

BZZZZT!

In a flash of blue, something began to cut through the protective walls of the cord. A force was pushing through! There was a great light and then-!

Out it went.

The firewall had been destroyed!

In the darkness of night, a figure stepped from the entrance, looking around at the empty station. It then slinked to a corner, only to be followed by another set of shadows.

"So this is the great Litwak's…." Mal hissed, looking about like a curious child.

Turbo took a deep breath in, enjoying the scent of his old stomping grounds. "Yep! Place hasn't changed a BIT!"

"Then what's all this?" the woman said, pointing to the huge venues.

The former racer was surprised to find that the station was indeed set up for some sort of event. He scrabbled up the wall, getting a better view.

"What in da world are these fool plannin'?!"

"Whatever it is, it seems like we came RIGHT on time!" piped in Mal, floating right next to Turbo, again forgetting the concept of personal space.

"GAH! Is this gonna be a habit of yours?!"

"So is that one of tha games?" the woman said, grabbing Turbo's face and pointing it towards the entrance of Sugar Rush.

"Yeeees…." Hissed the character angrily, looking as if he were ready to devour the entire game right then and there.

"Hold on partner!" the woman whistled "I can tell you're ready ta go in there blazin' but we can't strike yet! 'Snot part of tha plan!"

Turbo growled, climbing back into the nook of the corner "All this waitin' is makin' me wonder if ya even know whath your doin'!"

Mal gasped in surprise, looking a might offended at the remark.

"Don't know what we're DOIN'?! Why I NEVER-! Huff-puff an' all that surprised hoity-totiy reactions! HABLUB-BLUB-BLUB!"

"I'm just thayin', we need to move now!"

"An' miss tha chance of gettin' all these gobs when they'll be trapped in here, like animals ready for tha slaughter?"

There was something sinister about Mal's words that made Turbo's blood run cold. Oh, she knew EXACTLY what she was doing and from the way she was going about it, she was more excited about taking everyone out than Turbo.

"Every game in this lil place will never know what hit 'em…." Mal said, her eyes once again turning "An' each an' everyone one of 'em will be nothin' more than HUSKS once we're done with 'em! Empty husk that I can add ta my collection!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three- Cover

November 2nd, 2013

The Big Day.

The party.

The CELEBRATION!

"Oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!" Vanellope cried, nearly tumbling out of the entrance of Sugar Rush to the main station "THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE COOLEST THING EVER!"

"Hey, what about the rest of the parties we hold!" Gloyd asked in annoyance.

"RALPH! OVER HERE BIG GUY!" Vanellope called, clearly ignoring the complaints of Gloyd.

Ralph rushed over and gave his little friend a loving hug "Bout time ya showed up! We were about ta send a search party in for you an' your buddies!"

"Oh Ralph, ya know the best come FASHIONABLY late!" Vanellope said, giving the wrecker a smug grin "An' speakin' of…."

The raven haired racer then leapt down, showing off her new party dress to Ralph, "How ya like the new threads! Designed 'it myself!"

"Heh, it's a nice change from that ol' princess get up!" Ralph laughed "Ya can actually move in it!"

"Haau, no kiddin'!" Vanellope said, slumping forward a bit,

"But where did it come from? Somethin' that was in your inventory?"

"Nope!" Vanellope said twirling around "Swizz figured how ta work tha coding on my dress ta make it more…COMFOTABLE! An' since it was so easy, we copied the data an' made new outfits for EVERYONE on the occasion!"

Ralph looked up, seeing that every one of the Sugar Rush racers were indeed decked out in new outfits for the party, some looking more pleased than others.

"I feel stupid in this get up…." groaned Minty, crossing her arms.

"Well, if you wanted something BETTER, you should have let ME design your dress!" Sticky snapped, flicking her triplet on the ear.

Ralph couldn't help but smile. A year ago, he only knew these kids as being Vanellope's bullies but after knowing them for so long, he really did see them as friends of the racer as well as an extended part of his own list of friends.

"Hope ya won't be too busy lookin' after these little cavities ta have fun with me…" Ralph said.

"I HEARD that, Mr. Wreck-It." Shot Taffyta, the girl making her way through the crowd "And I would kindly like it if you did NOT refer to us as CAVITIES."

"Oh yeah, then what should I call ya, Laffy-Taffy?" Ralph chuckled as he stooped down to the strawberry racer, playing along with her.

Taffyta took out a party fan, hitting Ralph on the nose with each word she spoke.

"YOU. ARE. TO. REFERE. TO. US. AS. LORDS. AND. LADIES. OF. SUGAR. RUSH!"

"Um, since you guys are in a democracy, wouldn't it be something else? Ralph said, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing.

"Oh right…" Taffyta said "YOU. ARE. TO. REFERE. TO. US. AS. SENATORS. OF-!"

"I think Fart Brains gets the point, Taf!" Vanellope said, taking the fan from Taffyta's hand.

Once everyone had gathered, the party really got off to a roaring start. So much music, so much fun!

"SNOWANNA! SING HIGHER!" Vanellope shouted from the crowd.

The crowd cheered as the race got on stage, Skrillex starting up the song.

_Girl! Give it up and run away!  
To the arms of a better day!_

_Where you can say! Where you can find yourself!_

_Find yourself!_

Everyone cut loose on the dance floor as Snowanna belted out her tune, the girl's voice as smooth as ice.

Or perhaps, SHAVED ice.

"Wow, didn't think the kid could lay it out like that!" Calhoun said in an impressed voice.

"Why don't we have parties like this ALL the time?!" Rancis asked Taffyta, getting more and more caught up in the music.

"I don't know if I'd be able to take so much excitement at one time!"

"But I know who could!" Vanellope said with a smile, stilling rocking out to the music, "Ain't that right, Candles?"

No reply.

Vanellope stopped, realizing that Candlehead had suddenly disappeared!

"Now where in the world did she go off to?" Vanellope asked, looking around.

The racers stopped for a moment, looking about to see if they could spy their friend but the crowd was much too thick at this point to even see three feet in front of them.

"Aw man, she's missin' out on all the fun!" Vanellope said.

"Wait…." Taffyta said, looking towards one of the tables "I MIGHT have a clue as to where our missing racer would be."

The strawberry racer pushed her way to the crowd, making her way to the snack table.

Of course.

When it came to food, Candlehead was always the first in line so it would be no surprise at all that she was grabbing her fifth helping of party goodies.

But Candlehead wasn't there, even though Taffyta knew that was where the racer was hiding.

"C'mon C-Butt…." Taffyta said with a laugh "You're missin' out on a lotta fun!"

"Go away…." Candlehead squeaked from under the table.

"Found ya…."

Taffyta then got on her knees and crawled under the table cloth, seeing Candlehead sitting with her head buried in her arms.

"Eeeh, what is all this? Not so long ago, you were hoppin' up an' down, READY for this day!" Taffyta said, sitting next to Candlehead "What's with the sudden change of heart?"

Candlehead peeked at Taffyta, her cheeks blushing brightly.

"I-I…..I look so STUPID in this dress because I forgot my hat!"

Taffyta rolled her eyes, though she was relieved. For a moment, she thought that something was really wrong with her friend but to hear that it was just a case of a missing hat? Things weren't that bad!

"SERIOUSLY? You're making it sound like ya walked outta the game naked or something! You look fine without your hat!"

"No I doooooon't!" Candlehead whined, putting her hands on her head to cover up the massive wick-like curl on her head "I look stupid an' everyone is gonna laugh at me an' I'm not gonna have fun an'-!"

"Candle, Candle! Ya make it seem like some MONSTER is gonna come out and get you without your hat on!" Taffyta laughed but as she looked again, Candlehead actually looked TERRIFIED, as if what she said might come true.

"BUT THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN BECAUSE YOU CAN ALWAYS….always…"

Candlehead was giving Taffyta 'the look'; the look that meant it would only be second before waterfalls began to pour from the little racer's eyes.

"Hold on a sec…." Taffyta said, crawling out from under the table. A second later, she returned with a party hat, quickly fashioned to look SOMEWHAT like Candlehead's.

"It's not much but it's what I could do in five seconds…."

Candlehead took the hat from Taffyta's hands and placed it over her curl, adjusting it as she got used to it.

"Is that better?" the strawberry racer asked.

"A lil…."

"Then come on! You're missin' a party!" Taffyta smiled, pulling Candlehead from under the table.

As Candlehead made her way back into the crowd, she looked back at Taffyta, a small smile on her face.

Yeah, things were alright now.

"Crisis adverted?" Vanellope asked, walking to Taffyta.

"Yup!" Taffyta smiled.

Candlehead held her head meekly before making her way into the crowd but It didn't take long for any fear the racer once held to simple disappear and she was soon back into party mode.

"WHOO-HOO! MORE MUSIC! MORE CAKE! MORE BALLOONS!" the girl cheered, hopping up and down like a jumping bean.

She then turned.

Eyes.

She saw eyes.

From one of the corners, a large figure peered at her.

The little racer stopped and gasped, frozen in a state of shock.

A monster!

The huge figures slowly crept back into the shadows, leaving Candlehead to only pounder what she had just seen. The racer then slowly put her hands on her head.

Maybe a monster WOULD come out because she wasn't wearing her hat!

* * *

"When can tha FUN begin?!" asked Turbo, growing all the more impatient by the second.

"It can begin once you've dressed for the part!" Mal sneered, pushing Turbo back into the dark.

"Oh, yeth…." The man said, looking down at himself. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it wasn't like he could walk into the crowd and NOT be spotted, especially with the way he looked.

"Okay, I know ya have THOMTHIN' up your sleeths for this, so make way with whatever ya do!"

The woman turned, floating in front of Turbo as she eyed him up and down, a finger under her lip as she thought deeply.

"Hmm, ya have extensive outer pixel damage an' who knows what is goin' on underneath…." The woman said, acting as if she were about to give Turbo a make-over.

"JUST MAKE WITH IT OKAY?!" the man hissed, his eyes glowing.

Tor then jumped the man, pinning him to the ground as he bore his many rows of sharp teeth.

"TOR. HONEY. Don't tear the guy apart, we still haven't gotten our money…." Mal said in a rather unconcerned voice, her fingers on her temples as she continued to think. A spark then appeared in her eyes as she shot up nearly a foot in the air, a huge smile on her face.

"OF COURSE!"

"What?"

Mal then shot a hand out to Turbo's face, her claws digging into his face none-too-gently.

"AURGH! YOUR NAILS ARE IN MY EYETHS!"

"THIS TAKES CONCENTRATION! DON'T MOVE!" Mal shouted, a crazed smile on her face.

Pixels began to move on Turbo's body, rearranging themselves and turning.

"W-w-what iszzzzzz-?!"

The former racer began to glitch in and out of his cybrid form but then-!

POOF!

Something new!

Turbo looked down at himself; no longer was he a cybrid! He wasn't even in his racer form! Instead he had been reformed to resemble a background character of one of the many fighting games in the arcade. It wasn't surprising to guess that Turbo was stunned by what he was looking at, mostly because it had taken Mal so little time to give him this disguise.

"H-How did you-?!"

Turbo clamped a hand over his mouth; even his voice had changed! He looked over at the woman who was still floating in the air, a proud look on her face. A smile creeped on Turbo's face; he just couldn't contain himself at how happy he was.

"Like I said babe, when you've been to as many games as WE have, ya pick up a thing or two."

The woman then settled on the ground, shifting back into her outer guise.

"Like enough data to implement on ANYONE."

"Ya need me to teach me this trick!" Turbo chuckled evilly "Makes creepin' into games a lot easier!"

The man then looked at Tor, eyeing the huge beast up and down.

"But what about Jumbo here? Can he change?"

"Unfortunately, no…" Mal replied, a frown on her face "Tor here just can't shift unless he has the correct levels of data energy so for now, he's gonna serves as look out!"

"Really now? Are you sure something that BIG can serves as a look out?"

"Oh, ye of little faith. Tor can do so much more without all five of his eyes!"

"What's that supposed ta me-!"

"Quick, into the party!" Mal said, grabbing onto Turbo's hand and walking into the crowd.

"Watch the place, babe!" Mal winked at Tor, the creature slowly sinking back into the shadows.

This was it. Things were starting to roll.

Turbo walked around, eyeing everyone with anger.

There they were, all having a good time and laughing it up not even aware of the danger that was soon to befall them. The man growled in his throat.

Fools; they would soon know what it felt like to have all their glory stripped of them and in the end, he would have the final laugh. Just the thought of smashing everyone under his feet put a smile on Turbo's face but in his moment of joy, he didn't see where he was going.

"OOF!"

"OUCH!"

Turbo and the unknown person tumbled as they fell on the ground.

"I am SO sorry!" piped up the voice.

"Er, sure." Turbo said, not even excusing himself.

The man opened his eyes to see that he was looking directly at none other than Vanellope Von Schweetz.

His eyes widened as his blood began to boil.

"VANELLOPE."

"Er, yeah? That's me…" the little girl said, getting back on her feet.

Turbo couldn't help himself at this point; he was ready to pounce and grab the girl by her throat but then-!

"I'm sorry little miss!" cooed Mal, her voice gentle and dripping with honey "We got a little lost in the crowd!"

"Not a problem, ma'am!" Vanellope smiled, feeling a bit safer when the woman talked to her "Are you an' your friend lookin' for someone?"

Mal nudged Turbo in the stomach, the man grunting a bit.

"AREN'T WE?"

"Urf, yes! YES we are!" Turbo said, quickly remembering that everyone was viewing him as another person "Do ya know where Fix-it-Felix is?"

Vanellope eyed the two up and down; something about this just wasn't sweet. Sure, the lady was nice enough but the man? There was just something about the code he was giving off that made the girl a bit nervous.

But still, she had to listen to her elders, at least THIS time since they were being so nice.

"Um, the last I saw of him, he was talking over by the sound stage!" Vanellope pointed, creeping back just a bit.

"Thank you baby-kins!" Mal said sweetly as she patted the tiny racer on the head, walking off with the disguised Turbo in tow.

"I COULD HAVE HAD HER…." Turbo growled to himself, clenching his fingers at the very thought of taking Vanellope.

"An' ya could have blown our cover, TUUUURBZ." Mal spat out, leading the man out of the crowd "But since we know where the repair man is, we can continue."

Turbo looked back, having lost Vanellope in the crowd.

"Maybe I should have thought things through….just get that BRAT in a corner and BI-!"

"DON'T."

Not too far away, Felix was cutting loose with Calhoun on the dance-floor, characters cheering loudly as the two danced up a storm.

"Ya might be a good repairman, but I think you're even better at DANCIN'!" Calhoun said, spinning her smaller husband gracefully.

"Hehe, just wait until they play the song I requested! That when things will get REALLY smokin'!"

As the song ended, the two left the floor, going over to join their friends for a chat. As Felix was having a conversation with Q-Bert, he felt something tub on his side.

"Felix?"

The repairman looked down, seeing Gene looking at him, a rather worried look on his face.

"&*#^!&## *&##%!." the repairman said (translation: Excuse me, but it was nice talkin' ta ya!) as he turned towards Gene "What's up Big Gene? Everythin' goin' okay, I hope!"

"I-It is Felix…" the man said, his voice shaking a bit "B-but there's something I need to talk to you. IN PRIVATE!"

"O-OH!" Felix said, scratching his head "Well, let's go then!"

"NO!" Trubo spat from within the crowd "He's getting' away!"

"Who's tha lil blueberry?" Mal said, fluffing up her hair.

"Urgh, one of those stupid little Nicelanders!" the disguised racer growled "Never did like those little butterballs!"

"An' why is that?"

"You'd think they'd be able to take a joke when someone call's them SHORTIES! But nope! They got OFFENDED by it for some reason, an' even worse! Everyone agreed with THEM on that!"

"So I take it, they're more people on your revenge list?" Mal said with a teasing smile.

Turbo pouted, huffing "YES."

"An' that FEEEEE-Lix of yours cares about them?"

"I never understood why, but YES."

"That's good, that's REALLY good!" Mal smiled "Because knowing this brings another idea to my brain!"

"But what can we add in now?!" Turbo asked in annoyance.

Without warning, Mal grabbed Turbo by his collar and threw him into a corner, lifting the man up and pinning him against a wall. A crazed look was in her eyes, a sickening grin on her face.

"A lil chaos! A lil terror! WE GONNA ADD EVERYTHIN'!"

* * *

"Now what did ya need ta discuss with me?" asked Felix once he and Gene were far enough from the others.

"Felix…" the man sighed "Last year, I thought that I had landed everyone a one way ticket to being unplugged after what I said to Ralph. In that moment, everything flashed before my eyes and I realized just how much I had missed out on in thirty years."

"Er, wow…that's really deep, Gene…" Felix said nervously.

"And when those Gritz people came and kicked my butt? They made me realize that I needed to do even more things…."

"Such as?"

Gene dug for something in his pocket, cupping the item tightly.

"Felix, I am going to asks you for a favor. A BIG favor….."

"C'mon, Gene! Just tell me what you want me to do…."

Gene looked to the side nervously, his cheeks turning red as he loosened his fingers around the item he was holding. As Felix looked down, he then realized that the item was….

A ring box.

"I got the courage to ask her…." Gene said softly, his eyes still away from Felix "And….if it's okay with you, would you be the best man at the wedding?"

Felix was STUNNED.

No, stunned wasn't the right word.

He was BESIDE himself with all sorts of happy emotions!

The man just looked in shock but a huge smile appeared on his face just as he jumped into the air, giving a cheer.

"OH MY LAAAAND!" the man cried "IT'S ABOUT TIME YA FINALLY TIED THE KNOT WITH MARY!"

"Shhh! SHHH!" Gene said, waving his hand "NOT SO LOUD! I want….I want to ask her near the middle of the party, when I'm supposed to give my speech…"

Felix cupped his hands over his heart, a love-filled look on his face. This was just too much!

"Oh my goodness! Gene! That's BEAUTIFUL!"

"I'm glad you think so…." Gene said softly, "I just hope she says yes…."

"Of course she will!" Felix said, slapping Gene on the back "Ya know that Mary loves ya an' what better way to propose to her!"

Seeing so much confidence in Felix made Gene feel a tad better, the man smiling as he put the box back into his pocket.

"Thanks Felix! I don't know what I was thinking, being so nervous like that!" the man said, straightening his tie "It's most unbecoming of me!"

"Sure it is, Mr. Mayor!" Felix said snarkily "Just don't be late for your own proposal!"

"You don't have to worry about that, young man!" the mayor said, watching Felix return to the party "And thanks!"

As the repair man disappeared into the crowd, Gene took the ringbox out of his pocket once more, giving the ring another look.

It was beautiful.

But not as beautiful as Mary.

"Yes, this is going to go FGREAT!" Gene assured himself, a powerful smile appearing on his face.

"Oh, that's so sweet…" Mal cooed from out of nowhere.

Gene chuckled a bit at the voice, not even realize that there were others behind him.

"Why YES, it IS nice an-!"

The man then let out a squeak as he jumped, turning around to see two large figures looking down at him. The man let out a sigh as he wiped his brow.

"Okay, guess the secret is out…" he said with a slight laugh "But like I told Felix, just don't tell anyone okay? Word travels fast here."

"OH CUT THE CORN, GENE!" Turbo said angrily, taking a threatening step in front of the little man.

"Excuse YOU!" Gene puffed, putting his hands to his sides "What did I ever do to upset you? And speaking of that? DO I EVEN KNOW YOU?!"

Turbo cackled evil as he took Gene by the throat, the man gagging as he was lifted off the ground.

"Oh, we're…FAMILIAR with each other!"

"URRGH! WH-?!"

"Way to spoil the surprise TURBO!" Mal groaned, rolling her eyes "We were supposed to tell him AFTER he comes to AFTER I knock him upside his head!"

"T-T-TURBO?!" Gene sputtered in surprise, looking at the man up and down. He then arched an eyebrow "Forgive me for asking but….pixel reconstruction surgery?"

"MAL."

"Alright, alright…" the woman said, turning a wrist and making the pixels reform into Turbo's cybrid form.

Gene's eyes shrank down to the size of pinpoints as the man began to warp and transform as he held him. He had heard tales of how hideous Turbo had become as a cybrid but this was going even further than he could even imagine. The man was HORRIFIED by what he saw and even more horrified once he began to realize that he was now his CAPTIVE.

"SURPRISED?!" Turbo cackled, gripping onto Gene even tighter.

"W-WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Gene growled, kicking his little legs in the air.

"Just a lil bit of cooooooode…." The former racer hissed, his sharp teeth much too close to Gene's face for comfort.

The Nicelander was terrified but he put on a brave face, hoping that if he kept the two occupied, they would at least not focus on the party that was happening out of the shadows.

"C-code? There's all sorts of CODE here, TURBZ! You're going to have to be a bit more SPECIFIC than THAT!"

"Oh don't worry! I know EXACTLY what I need…." Turbo grinned "And YOU'RE the one who's going to give it to me!"

"WHAT?!" Gene said in shock "You MUST be joking young man because there is NO WAY I am going to give you ANY code!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that…." Mal said, pinching Gene's fat cheeks.

"Ready to go?"

Mal nodded, lifting her left arm "Now that I know where his game is, we should be there…."

She then slashed at the wall, opening what seemed to be another portal into a code void.

"IN NO TIME!"

Gene let out a chocked scream as he was pulled into the void with the others, the gateway closing only a second later.

And no one saw a thing.

Especially the ring box that had fallen from Gene's pocket.

"Hey Mary!" Shouted Felix, grabbing the attention of the little Nicelander "Havin' a good time!"

"Yes, dear!" Mary said happily. She then started to look around, noticing that someone was missing.

"But have you seen Gene? He said he was going to join me on the dance floor!"

Felix smiled playfully, putting his hands behind his back "I know he's here SOMEHWERE. And…."

The man stopped himself; he knew he couldn't let anything slip since he had promised Gene but he was just too excited.

"Well, you'll see soon enough, Mary! He has something BIG planned!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Break In

"NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" screamed Gene as he was carried through the huge pipeline of code, still clutching in the hands of Turbo.

Just what was this place and more importantly, where were they going?

The little man was surrounded by a cold black space and brightly lit blue code, traveling along so fast that he could hardly breathe.

"If I get out of this, I promise not to drink AS MUCH again!" the man prayed.

But then…

"HI HONEY, WE'RE HOME!" screamed Mal, sliding on her knees onto the wooden floor.

Gene opened his eyes and looked around.

Something about this place seemed familiar.

Because it WAS familiar!

He was back in the apartments!

"WHAT THE-!? HOW DID WE GET BACK HERE?!" the man shouted, looking around in shock.

Mal lifted up her left hand, Gene noticing that it was much larger and more deformed looking that the right one. She wriggled her fingers teasing at the man.

"Picked his baby up from the hive…." Mal said proudly "Gives me a back key entrance ta ANY game!"

Gene knew what was happening now; he wasn't just dealing with Turbo….he was dealing with a VIRUS.

"Sweet ghost of Miyamoto…."

"Trust me love, GHOST will be the least of your problems soon enough…" the woman said coldly, shifting back into her virus form.

"Can you sense it?" Turbo asked.

"SENSE WHAT?!" Gene snapped, kicking his tiny legs in the air as he attempted to get free.

"Yeah, I can sense it…." Mal said, standing still "Tor would be better at this. His sense of smell is greater than mine…."

"J-Just what are you doing?!" Gene asked, wriggling in Turbo's clutches.

The woman held out a finger, everyone going silent.

Nothing.

Nothing.

"I'MGONNAGETCHA!" the woman roared, turning and screaming in Gene's face with a horrible sneer.

Gene cried out at the top of his lungs but he stopped, realizing that the woman was just toying with him, the virus laughing up a storm as she floated in the air.

"Oh my-! Oh my-! OH MY SIDES!" Mal cackled, wiping her eyes "These little baby-things are so ADORABLE! Why do ya hate 'em again?!"

"Have you found it or NOT?!" Turbo growled.

Without saying another word, Mal took Turbo by his hands and BOLTED upwards towards the ceiling, plowing through it as if it were butter! Gene screamed with each floor the trio broke through but finally they stopped.

Right at the top floor and right in front of the pent-house.

"Fancy digs ya have here…." Mal said, swaying her hips a bit before lifting a leg and KICKING down the huge doors.

"Nice leg work…" Turbo whistled.

"Chun-Li ain't got STUFF on these babies!" the virus smirked, slapping her ample sides before walking in.

Mal then lead the massive cybrid through the penthouse, Turbo not caring a lick over what he knocked over; he just wanted to get to his prize. The virus on the other hand was becoming more and more entranced by the energy she was feeling; her entire body glowed blue, her eyes going white as she approached the source closer.

"Energy!" she hissed, going towards the source like a moth to a flame "SO MUCH ENERGY!"

The woman than threw herself forward, hitting what appeared to be a wall at the end of one way corridor. She began to caresses and run her fingers up the wall paper, knocking over the picture that was hanging on the wall.

"Oooh! Yes! I can feel it! Mmm! Aaaaaall that data! ALL THAT FRESH, RAW DATA!"

She was obviously enjoying herself way too much with this.

"Ahem…" Turbo glared "Can we continue or do ya want thum alone time with da WALL?"

Mal looked, mid-kiss, at the two.

Whoops.

"Of course…" the woman said, standing tall, a serious look on her face "BLUEBERRY."

"GENE." The man said angrily.

"Whatever….Do you know what is behind this wall?"

Gene turned a bit pale, shaking his head "I-I have no idea!"

"Mmm-hmmm…" Mal said, nodding her head "Me thinks you IS LYING!"

Mal then SLAMMED her fist into the wall, the thing going through the wall paper and false wall to reveal….

A panel?

Mal ripped the panel off the wall and threw it back, the door to the game's code vault lying in plain sight.

"HA! I KNEW YOU WAS LYING! I KNEW YOU WAS LYING!" Mal said in a crazed laughter "Ya can't TELL me ya didn't know this was here!"

"S-So what if I DID, VIRUS?!" Gene spat "Even if you got this far, who's to say you're going to get any closer to the code?"

"Oooooh, I have my way!" Mal said, ripping Gene from Turbo's grip as she pulled him close "I HAVE MY WAYS."

Mal then hurled Gene into wall, the man crying out in pain as he fell limp to the ground. She then turned her focus on the door. She gazed at the thing, sneering evil.

"Ya know what I love about these old games?" the woman laughed.

"And that would be?" Turbo asked, crossing his arms.

"They always have the crappiest of security!"

Mal was about to just dive head first into the door but as she touched it, she was greeted by a nasty shock! The woman yowled in pain as she jumped back, her entire body burning.

"WHAT?! WHAT WAS THAT!?" Turbo yelled, catching the woman.

Mal put out a hand; she didn't want the cybrids help but she knew she was in for a challenge. She eyed the door again, panting heavily. It didn't look out of the ordinary but how could she explain what had happened to her?

She looked down, inspecting the door a bit closer only to find….

"HERO'S DUTY."

A fire-wall!

The woman snarled in anger as she jumped back into the penthouse, tearing through the place like some sort of angry animal. Turbo could only watch, the woman going to and fro as she tossed chairs, ripped up carpets and more or less destroyed the place.

"I take it there is a snag?"

Mal shot up on her feet, calming herself down as she brushed her hair out of her face.

"MAYBE."

She then flew back towards the door, "Ya see that? Hero's Duty must have custom fit this dump up with an patch upgrade."

"A PATCH? What in the world does that have anything to do with YOU gettin' through?!"

"EVERYTHING" Mal roared, scaring Turbo for a moment "Ya seeeeee, with an upgraded firewall patch, I can't get in. I haven't had time to crack it so my own coding can weasel into it!"

"Well..do ya think ya can crack it now?!" Turbo yelled, trying to touch the door himself only to get a nasty shock.

"No! With the strength of this thing, it would take me at least a DAY…." Mal then turned back towards her partner in crime, "And I AIN'T GOT THAT DO I?!"

"W-Well, just think of thum-thing!"

Another smile broke on Mal's face.

Oh, ho. She had something brewing in her brain.

"Remember when ya got mad at me for wanting to bring Chubby-Chunks with us?" the woman cooed, flying back towards the downed Mayor.

"Don't tell me…."

Mal picked the still unconscious Gene from the floor, holding him gently in his arms as if he were some sort of pillow.

"This widdle, squishy cutie-kins has somethin in his brain. Something that can help us get through…."

Mal then gripped Gene so tightly that she jolted the man awake, the man crying out in pain as he felt as if his organs were being SMASHED out of him.

"HAAAURGH! WHAT?!"

"Wakey, wakey Mayor Big Booty Shakey…." Mal snarled, bringing him over to the door "I have a duty for you…."

Gene growled, balling his tiny fist "Whatever it is, I won't do it!"

"Oh, YES. YES YOU WILL…" Mal said, shaking her head, a crazed look on her face "You will because….because I aint' blastin' my braina on that door!"

"So what do ya need from him?"

"THE PASS." Mal shot "And I know that somewhere in this fathead's widdle brain, it lies!"

Gene felt a shiver run up his spine; Mal had guessed correctly that he was one of the few people who knew the game pass code but he knew there was no way in the endless void he was going to let it spill what it was!

They would have to torture the man to very ends of death, and even then he still wouldn't tell!

"Are you SERIOUS!?" Gene said "You brought me all the way for THAT?! I don't even know the stupid code!"

"Liar…" Mal said, her hair starting to flow a bit more than ever now. Not a good sign.

"Puh-LEASE, I'm just a BACKGROUND character! I don't even register that far on ANY scale…." The man said sarcastically "What made you think I bring anything to the table is beyond me!"

"I'll tell ya why I know ya know the thing I want ta know that I know ya know!" the woman cackled, her face twisting a bit as she grabbed onto Gene's cheeks "It's always the most UNSUSPECTIN' characters that know the most!"

Something in Mal's eyes seemed to change right in front of Gene. For a moment, they seemed to return to their normal color but then they flashed pink.

"They always know so much. Always so much. Always so much. ALWAYS SO MUCH!"

"Uh, MA'AM?! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Gene managed to say, his cheeks sstill squished.

Mal began to glitching where she stood, screaming in pain as she let go of Gene and grabbed onto the side of her head.

"LET THEM GO! LET THEM G-G 10101010101-GOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"WHOA WHOA WHOA! ACADE TO MAL!" Turbo said, slapping the woman on the back of the head.

The woman cried out in pain, her entire top half bending all the way to the ground.

Silence.

"OKAY, what was I SAYIN'?!" the woman suddenly said, an unstable grin on her face, her eyes swirling in her skull.

Turbo was beginning to rethinking his partnership with the two viruses, but being so close as he was, he couldn't' turn back now. Not when things were so close.

"Are you sure, you're there?" Turbo asked the woman, moving towards her cautiously.

"OF COURSE I KNOW WE CAN USE THIS GUY TO GET CODE!" Mal said, having not heard a word the man had said "AND ALL WE GOTTA DO IS THIS!"

Before Gene even knew what was going on, the woman shoot a hand towards his head, planting her palm so hard on his forehead, the man thought that his neck would snap.

"OH SWEET PROOooooooooooo-" Gene's voice slowed before he slumped to the ground, his eyes filling with static before going blank.

"You didn't KILL him did ya?!" asked Turbo.

"Shhh, goin' through…." Mal said, her arm and eyes glowing, taking in all the memory bank data she could "Nope, not it. That's the code for Sonic and Knuckles! NAKAJIMA! Lalala 101001011100111-!"

The woman continued to glow blue, taking in every bit of data Gene had, growing all the more crazed but suddenly-

"I HAVE IT!" she shouted, quickly turning her head towards the door, throwing Gene back into the mess of the penthouse.

"CAN I HAVE A SIX?! A ZERO! A FOUR-FOUR ONE A TWO!" the woman cheered, slamming her fist right into the middle of the door, the thing warping as the combined power of the code and her virus data began to corrupt and finally….

It was open.

Turbo looked in awe at the code void. Sure, it wasn't as huge as the one in Sugar Rush but there was something about looking at the endless amounts of data that always got the man. He was almost ready to dive into the mess when he stopped himself.

Mal was the virus expert here.

At least he thought.

"Tho, m'lady. Shall we?"

Mal took a hold of Turbo's hand as if he were an old friend, "We shall….."

And with that, the two jumped in.

Gene continued to lie on the floor, his mind still corrupted and his eyes still void.

"101010 F-F-1010-F-E-E-E-LIX! 1011001010 DANGER!"

Unbeknownst to the poor man, or anyone for that matter, the two villains were making their way through the code, but there was only one target.

"That it?" Mal said, pointing to a specific clump of data.

"Yeeeth! YEEEETH!" Turbo said, eyeing the mass hungrily.

"Then allow me ta do lil rewrite!"

* * *

Back outside in the party, everyone was enjoying the events around them, none the wiser at to what was actually happening just yards away in Fix-it-Felix Jr.

As the group of friends laughed it up, taking about told times, Felix suddenly HICCUPED, the repairman blushing brightly as he covered his mouth.

"Ya okay there, solider?" Calhoun snickered.

"Guess someone is thinkin' of me…" Felix laughed weakly, hoping the blushing would die down.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five- Rabid

"Welp! That's all done!" Mal said, wiping her hands clean as she took Turbo and flew out of the code room.

"So what now?"

"NOOOW, we wait for the fun to begin!" the woman smiled "Ooooooh! I just can't wait ta see 'em runnin'!"

"Speaaakin' of…." Turbo said, craning his neck down to the woman "Whath wath THAT about?"

"What was WHAT about, dearie?" the woman smiled, not having a clue as to what the character was talking about.

"You know WHATH I'm talkin' about! That entire act back there! From tha looks of things, YOU might have problems with your-thelfth!"

Mal scratched her head, looking at Turbo as if he were crazy "Darlin', I haven't the FOGGIEST of ideas of what you're talkin' about! Ya sure YA weren't tha one spazin' out?"

"Never mind…" Turbo said, making his way through the penthouse "Let's get outta here before-!"

"I haven't seen him for over an hour!" came a voice from the hallway.

Turbo ducked, falling on his stomach once he heard the voice, "PIS-TONS!"

"What is it now?" whispered Mal, flying over to the man.

"It's MARY!"

"Oh, I learned about her while I scanned Chubby-Chunk's brain! Do ya know how many times these two made out?! No wonder they call him BIG GENE!"

"SHHH! Ya want us to get SPOTTED?" the man shouted, putting a claw to the woman's mouth.

Out in the hallway, Mary made her way to her apartment, Nel following close by.

"Mary, I'm sure Gene is alright! He's probably been talkin' it up with the other characters! You know how he can be!"

"I know Nel…" Mary said, shaking her head "But I still feel that something is wrong! Can't you feel it too?"

Nel rubbed her arm a bit, looking off to the side. She hated to admit it, but Mary did have a point. Something felt a tad off, especially in the empty apartments. Nonetheless, the Nicelander wasn't going to let her feelings get in the way of enjoying herself.

"Mary, please. You've been worried for so long! Just relax a bit, okay dear?"

The purple Nicelander sighed, looking off to the side.

"All right…just let me get a jacket." The woman said "S-something to cover up this dress!"

"But Mary, you chose that dress for the party! Why are you going to cover it up?" Nel asked in surprise.

Mary shyly looked away, "I'm sorry. I wore this because I thought Gene would like it….but since he's not here…..I'm sorry, I just don't feel comfortable showing off this much skin."

"BUT IT'S JUST YOUR SHOULDERS! It's no different than the dress I wore LAST year!" Nel said in surprise.

"I-I just can't rock the look as good as you…" Mary said, slipping into her apartment.

Nel sighed heavily; she knew Mary meant well but the woman was worrying for things she didn't even understand.

"Okay, Mary. I'm headin' back to the party. I don't want Norwood to do anything' stupid while I'm gone…"

"I-I'll be there soon…." The other Nicelander squeaked.

"Should we get rid of those two?" Turbo hissed through a crack in the penthouse door.

"No, let 'em be…." The virus said, sneering down at Gene "I've got bigger things planned."

Mary sat on the couch, her coat on her lap.

"Urgh, stupid nerves…" the woman said to herself "Why am I acting like this? I was fine an hour ago!"

It just had to be something, didn't it? Always something!

The woman took a deep breath, gathering any courage she had within her.

"No more sitting around!" she said powerfully "I'm not going to hide anymore, even if Gene isn't around to see how PRETTY I look in my dress!"

That last bit was added just because Mary was feeling a tad prideful. She was thirty years old and this was the first time she was wearing something much more 'adventurous' than her normal attire, even if it was just a slight alteration in the arms.

Leaving her jacket, Mary made her way back to the hallway, unaware of the people looking behind her.

But then….

CRASH!

Turbo and Mal looked in shock, seeing that a bottle of liquor had fallen from the shelf and exploded on the floor!

"GENE?!" Mary said, looking back towards the penthouse.

"OH CRAP! OH CRAP! OH CRAP!" Turbo said, pacing back and forth on all his legs "NO WHATH?!"

"Now what?" Mal smiled, surprisingly calm at the turn of events "Now, things have gotten better!"

Mary tip-toed to the door of the penthouse, cautiously putting a hand on the wooden frame.

"G-Gene?" the woman said, pushing in on the door, finding that it was unlocked. The woman walked in, surrounded by darkness. She reached for the light but as she flicked it, nothing turned on.

"The power's out?" the woman said to herself "Odd? Gene and Felix always make sure this place is operationa-"

Something broken underneath the woman's foot.

She looked, seeing a piece of stem-wear shattered underneath.

Okay, something was up.

Another chill went up the woman's spine as she froze in place, unaware that right above her….

Were two large figures, hanging onto the ceiling and ready to drop on her like a hunter going after its prey.

"G-Gene?" the woman whimpered, turning slowly and seeing two sets of eyes peering down at her. The woman shook, her eyes widening in horror.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Both Turbo and Mal dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, knocking Mary off her feet.

"THURPISE!"

"OH MY PROGRAMMERS!" the Nicelander screamed, scrabbling up the broken mounds of furniture.

"Why my dear Mary, youth acth as if you've never THEEN me before!" Turbo said, chuckling cruelly.

"T-TURBO?! BUT YOU'RE-!"

"Dead? Yeah, that lasthed about FIVE SECONDS…." The man said, moving closer to Mary's face "But if ya even dare scream like that again, I can assure you, YOU'LL be tha dead one!"

"NO!" Mary shouted, taking a piece of shattered stem-wear and thrusting it in the cybrid's face "Don't you even DARE come near me! AND WHERE IS GENE!"

"Gene? Who is this GENE?" Mal said, Gene held in her arms and slowly coming to.

"M-Mary?"

"GENE!" Mary shouted, running towards him "Oh my GOODNESS, what have they done to you?!"

"Just enough ta get what we needed!" Mal said, pushing Mary away from the man, "But since you've stumbled in on us, I think MORE needs to be done!"

"YOU MONSTERS! LET HIM GO!"

"AH AH AH!" Turbo said, grabbing Mary in his claws "We wouldn't want anyone coming here, would we?"

Mary looked outside, seeing Nel exiting the front door. She HAD to get her attention somehow.

"NEL! HE-MMMPGH!"

"Silence ith golden!" Turbo cackled, covering the mouth of the Nicelander and holding her tight.

Back outside, Nel looked up for a moment. Her ears had picked up something but WHAT exactly?

"Mary?" the woman said, turning back towards the apartments and eyeing the penthouse.

"NEL!"

"GAH!" the woman shouted, turning in time to see Norwood running up to her. A miffed look on her face, Nel put her hands on her hips and glared up at the man "NORY! What is it NOW?!"

"Look, I just came to see if ya an' Mary were okay!" the man panted, out of breath from running all the way from the party.

"Well, we're FINE. So just go back, alright?!" the woman then turned, her nose up on the air.

Norwood slumped a bit, putting his hand on the woman's shoulder "Nel, c'mon!"

Nel looked up at the freckled Nicelander, seeing that he really meant what he said. Aside from that, how could she stay annoyed at him for so long, especially with the way he had come running just to see if she were alright.

"Sorry, Red but-"

A loud bump!

Crashing!

The two looked up, seeing a shadowy figure moving against what little light there was in the penthouse.

"What in tha arcade is THAT?!" asked Norwood.

"Mary…." Nel said in a thin voice, wasting no time in running back towards the building.

"Nel! W-WAIT!" Norwood said, running after her.

* * *

"Wow, could you TRY to drum up more attention!" Mal said, shaking her head at Turbo who now had one of his claws in his mouth.

"IS IT MY FAULTH THESE LITTLE BUTTER-ROLLS HURT WHEN THEY BITE?!" screeched the man.

"And there will be more where that came from!" screamed the purple Nicelander, holding the injured Gene in her arms.

"Why does it always have to go like this?" the mayor moaned in pain, his head pounding.

"Great! More of the Weebles are on their way!" Mal said, watching Norwood and Nel go into the building.

"Now what?! Soon the entire arcade will be onto us!"

"Yeah, no thanks to YOU!"

"I SAID HER BITE HURT ME!" Turbo roared, rearing up on his hind legs. Mal was unmoved by the threatening stance and instead floated up to his face.

"Listen big boy, things are movin' forward NOW! One more sudden act outta ya an' you're on your own!"

"FINE!" said Turbo "But what to do with Mr. and Mrs. Lovelanders here?"

Mal saw that the two were trying to crawl their way out the door but quick as a flash, she flew before them and scooped them up as if they were children, both screaming as they left the ground.

"Now, it's time for the fun I promised!"

Mal then threw Mary to the ground, the woman rolling head over feet until she hits the side of the bar.

"MARY!" Gene screamed in agony seeing his love injured.

"Hey, TURBZ! Ever wanted to see what happens when a REAL virus infects somethin'!?"

"W-WHAT?!"

Before Gene even knew what was happening, Mal opened her mouth to reveal her terrifying collection of dagger like teeth, each one gleaming in the light. The man could only gasp in horror just as the fangs came down on his shoulder.

"GENE!"

The mayor let out a horrible cry of pain that echoed throughout the entire apartment. Even Nel and Norwood heard it as they rode the elevator to the top floor.

"Was that-?!"

"C'MON! C'MON! MOVE FASTER!" Norwood growled, punching the up button in vain.

Mary looked on in horror as Gene writhed in pain, a bit of blood coming from his wound. Even Turbo was stunned at the way Mal had turned but he was even more shocked when she just dropped Gene to the floor like a dirty rag.

"That's it?!" the man asked.

"Nope…."

Gene lay on the floor in silence, his body curled into a little ball as he trembled in pain. Mary crawled her way over to her love, scared to put a hand on him.

"G-Gene?"

No reply.

"Gene? GENE?!" the woman said, shaking the man where he lay "Please answer me!"

"N-NOUUUURGHR!" the man suddenly roared, turning over on his sides and panting heavily.

Mary knew something horrible was about to happen, she just knew it! She crawled back, watching Gene continue to shake in his place.

"UUUURRGH!" the man groaned, his voice deep and growling "W-WHAT 11-01010-1010 DID YOU D-D-D-D-D TO MEEEEEE?!"

"Don't ask me! SHE'S tha one who bit ya!" Turbo said, pointing towards Mal.

Even in the dimly lit room, Mary could see what was happening to Gene, the sight sending a wave of fright in the woman. Her eyes began to trail upwards, a scream trapped in her throat. Meanwhile, Mal just looked on, proud of what she had done.

"Well, Turbz, looks like this is our cue!"

Mal then dove HEAD FIRST out the still closed window, laughing like mad as she flew through the air.

"WAIT! THUM OF US ARE FLYIN' CHALLENGED NOW!" Turbo screamed, simply BUSTING through the wall and climbing down the brick wall like the giant bug that he was.

"PROGRAMMERS!" Norwood said, ducking from the explosion, "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOIN'-?!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"MARY!" Nel yelled, running for the penthouse door but before she could get to them, Mary came flying out, a horrified look on her face as tears streamed from her eyes. She crashed right into Nel, unable to find words.

"HE! THEY! BITING! OH MY PROGRAMMERS! GENE!"

"What's wrong with Gene?!" asked Norwood.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The three Nicelanders stood in place as they looked towards the penthouse doors, Mary grabbing onto Nel even tighter.

"H-HE'S-!"

A huge force broke down both doors, sending them flying across the hall and giving the Nicelanders little to no time before they were hit. Looking up in shock, a massive, grey hulking beast came lumbering out of the room, steam coming from both it's mouth and nose, its eyes going right for the three.

"HOLY COW!" Norwood shouted "DID THAT THING EAT GENE?!"

Nel looked forward, seeing a familiar cardigan tangled around the huge figure.

A familiar cardigan with a G inscribed on it.

"THAT THING IS GENE, NORY!"

The beast let out a huge roar towards the three, knocking them off their feet.

"Well, we're screwed."

"JUST SHUT UP AND RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Nel said, pushing both Mary and Norwood in front of her.

The tiny Nicelanders ran as fast as their little legs could carry them but the now infected Gene was about to show them what he could do in this form. He crotched down and then leapt forward, crashing in front of the trio and blocking any exit the trio had.

"WHY DOES CRAP ALWAYS HAVE TO HAPPEN HERE?!" Nel yelled.

"HOLD ON GALS!" Norwood said, turning towards the doors of one of the apartments "I have an idea!"

"YOU DO?!"

"HEY! HEY! GENE!" Norwood called "Ya wanna know somethin'?! I WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD EVERYONE 'BOUT THAT TIME YA SPLIT YOUR PANTS!"

The Gene beast seemed to be reached by Norwood's words; he blinked in shock but with a growl and a swiping of his massive hands, he SLAMMED Norwood through the door of the apartment, Nel and Mary screaming in horror!

"NORY!"

Gene growled realizing that his wrist was now caught on some of the debris, distracting him for a moment or two, just enough time to allow Nel and Mary to scamper into the apartment.

"Oh, YOU MORON! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Norwood lay on the floor for a moment or two, blinking before regenerating a second later, shaking a bit but otherwise fine.

"Cuz I knew that was the only way I could get in here!"

"Wait, isn't this DON'T apartment?"

"NO TIME FOR QUESTIONS!" Norwood said, taking one of Don's book chests and THROWING it out the window.

"Ya know, you could have just opened it!" Nel screamed.

"JUST MOVE!" Norwood yelled, leading both women to the balcony all before taking Nel into his arms, making her wrap her arms around his neck.

"Mary, get in my back!"

"WHAT"?!"

"JUST DO IT!"

Mary looked back, seeing that Gene was now tearing his way through the small doorframe, his sights still set on capturing the three.

"BUT GENE-!"

"MARY! NOW!"

Mary jumped onto Norwood's back, only to look in shock once she saw the man grabbing onto the ladder of the apartment.

"NORWOOD! YOU'RE NOT-!"

"Best ladder slider in Niceland!" the man said with a forced grin.

"WAIT! NORWOOD! YOU KNOW I DON'T LIKE HEEEEEEEIGHT OH CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!" screamed Nel as Norwood then jumped from the side of the bulding, his hands gripped onto the side rails as he slid down with ease.

All thirty stories.

All thirty stories, HIGH IN THE AIR.

Needless to say, Nel WASN'T enjoying this, the woman screaming at the top her lungs the entire time.

Norwood managed to land with a slight tumble, but thankfully his risky jump had saved the group.

"Okay, NOW WE RUN!"

"Y-Yes, great idea!" Mary said.

Norwood then looked down to see that Nel was still clutching onto him, the woman frozen in fear.

"Nel? Nel? You okay, babe?"

The woman's eyes rolled up to the man but her face then turned sour, slapping the man in the face.

"YOU KNOW FULL WELL I HATE HEIGHTS NORWOOD!" the woman cried, nearly falling over.

There was another huge crash, some of Don's belongings raining down from the apartment.

"There's time for slaps later, babe! But now, we RUN!"

* * *

"Where in the world is Gene?" Felix said, looking down at his watch "It's almost time for the speech and I can't find 'im!"

"Somethin' wrong, pal?" asked Ralph, walking up the repairman.

"Ooooh, ya bet there is! I'm stuck here waitin' for Gene but I don't know where the guy could be!"

"Have ya checked the snack bar?" Ralph joked.

"YEAH! But the place was still stocked!"

"Oh no, a full bar! That MUST mean somethin' is wrong" the wrecker replied, more or less messing with Felix this time.

"I'm goin' back ta Niceland! Maybe he's there!"

"Wait, wait! I'LL go!" Ralph said "You've been EVERYWHERE tonight! Take some time to relax buddy!"

"Relax? Yeah….yeah!" Felix said, twisting his cap in his hands "That's a GREAT thing ta do!"

Ralph shook his head as a gentle smile appeared on his face; Felix, always getting caught up in something.

"I'm sure Gene is fine…." Ralph snickered to himself "He probably went back to get his 'special' brew for the party or somethin'!"

As the wrecker made his way through the crowd, he made a quick turn towards one of the alley ways and in that split second, something caught his eye.

Two figures, each one appearing out of nowhere and slithering back into the darkness.

The man stopped, squinting a bit to make sure his eyes were not fooling him.

"What the-?"

"CLEAR THE WAY! CLEAR THE WAY!" shouted Norwood, the man tearing like heck out of the entrance of Fix-it-Felix.

Ralph turned, surprised to see three Nicelanders running up to him, all looking panicked.

"Guys?! GUYS?! What's wrong?!" Ralph said, stopping them before they ran into a wall in their blind panic.

"I-I-ITS GENE!" Mary puffed, her entire face red.

"What's wrong with Gene?!" Ralph said, looking into the tunnel of his game.

Bad move.

Ralph didn't have second to react as the trolley to the game came CAREENING Through the tunnel, nailing the man in the face and sending him flying into the crowd. People screamed in shock as they looked at the twisted heap of metal on the ground and the wrecker, his entire view dizzy from being hit so suddenly.

"WRECK-IT!" Calhoun shouted as she ran over to help the man up "You okay?!"

"I-I think I am…." Ralph said, a hand to his head "But I don't remember our trolley havin' an EXPRESS feature on it!"

A huge ROAR blew through the tunnel as the Gene beast lumbered his way out. The group of friends could only look on in shock at what they were seeing, Gene beast returning his gaze on them and slowly making his way towards them, ready to pounce.

"I DON'T REMEMBER THAT BEIN' IN OUR GAME!" screamed Ralph.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six- Party Crashers

"HOLY CORN PONE ON A HOT TIN ROOF!" Felix screamed "IS THAT GENE?!"

"Wow, musta had a bad drink!" Vanellope said, looking on in shock.

"What in the world happened to 'im?!" yelled Ralph, getting back on his feet and shieling his friends.

"IT WAS A VIRUS!" Mary screamed.

The very mention of the word made Ralph's blood run cold; not again! Not after seeing what one could do to Sugar Rush, another had infected his own game!

But he didn't think they were capable of doing THIS MUCH to a character!

"Okay, I thought the Taffyta virus was bad…." The man said, readying himself to throw a punch at a moment's notice "BUT THAT AIN'T GOT STUFF ON THIS!"

The Gene beast roared at the top of its lungs, rearing up before landing again, shaking the entire area and causing everyone to run in panic.

"EVERYONE! EVERYONE! RUN TO THE SAFETY OF YOUR GAMES!" Calhoun shouted at the top of her lungs, trying her best to guide the frantic crowd.

Advice like that would have been key for everyone, considering how dangerous the situation was becoming.

But there was one catch.

No one could get into their games!

The very second a character tried to make their way to the entrance of their game, they were met by the feeling of crashing RIGHT into a glass wall.

"What the-!?" said Pinky, trying again and again to push herself through the opening.

"What's wrong?!" asked Clyde, flying next to his friend.

"WE CAN'T GET IN!"

"WHAT?!" Calhoun said, looking all around her to see that everyone was indeed locked out of their own games! The woman's jaw dropped in shocked, taking in the gravity of the situation.

"H-how in the world did that-?!"

The woman then felt a gust fall behind her. Turning quickly, she came face-to-face with Mal, the woman smiling evilly.

"HELLO THAR!" the virus said, all before giving Calhoun a well-calculated round-house kick to the face.

"HONEY!" Felix cried out, watching his wife fall from the stage and into a pile of chairs.

Mal laughed contently, once again returning to her virus form as she floated about the masses, "I didn't hurt Sergeant Barbie, did I?! MAH BAD!"

Felix growled angrily as he looked up at the woman, "Why ya-! YA DIRTY SHREW! YA HAVE NO IDEA THA BEAT DOWN THAT IS COMIN' YOUR WAY!"

"A dirty shrew…." Mal said, thinking for a moment "Well, I can say I have never been called THAT before!" she said, shrugging her shoulders, a goofy smile coming on her face.

"Tammy, Tammy are ya okay!?" the repair man said in worry.

"'M fine, baby!" Calhoun said, lying of course "But I'll be even better once I nail that virus!"

"Come n' get me, Blondie!" Mal said teasingly, pointing to herself.

Calhoun got on her feet and leapt back on stage, the two getting right into a fight. Mal ducked and dodged the woman's moves, smiling gleefully the entire time.

"Like your spice!" She hissed "I can say that the other you in the last game I took down wasn't NEARLY as energetic!"

Calhoun scowled, drawing her fist back "Let's just say I've had some EXTRA TRAINING!"

The Sargent landed a blow right in the middle of Mal's face, hitting the woman so hard that she went through the backing of the stage!

"HAH! Ralphs' not the only one who can wreck-it!" the woman said, her fist still aching for more action.

Mal lay on the ground but slowly rose, a horrid scowl etched onto her face.

"Lucky shot….BUT I AIN'T EVEN STARTED YET!"

The virus then made another dive for the Calhoun but she was ready for her, this time swinging one of the down chairs in the virus' face and knocking her out.

"START ANOTHER TIME!" the woman roared, throwing the chair on the ground as she ran back towards her friends.

"Okay, one problem solved!" Calhoun puffed, running as fast as she could "But what about-!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Ralph came crashing into the wall, the aftermath of hit from the now ungodly strong Gene.

"RALPH! Ya okay?!"

"I'm okay as I'm gonna be in this situation!" the man said, tearing off the bits of what was left of suit "But tell me Sarge! Ya faced Cybugs and people who have been turned into Cybugs! HOW DO I DEAL WITH THIS?!"

Calhoun turned just in time to see Gene about to pounce on the two. Her eyebrows furrowed as she ducked down, reaching for something under her dress.

"YA DEAL WITH IT LIKE THIS!"

Just like clock-work, out came the BIG GUNS!

"BAAAAAAAACK!" the woman screamed, blasting away at Gene but only doing so that he beast would be stunned, not horribly injured.

"Just where do you put those things?!" Ralph asked.

"Nuff about that! We need to….WE NEED TO DO LOTS OF THINGS!" Calhoun said, reaching out for her communicator "MOUSE!"

"YES, MA'AM!" the woman screamed back on the other end.

"Do you know what in the world is goin' on with the game entrances?!"

From the south end of the station, Mouse was shooting away at the entrance of Jungle King but no matter how many times she shot at the shield, it wouldn't' break!

"It's a backwards engineering fire-wall!" Mouse said

"WHAT?! HOW IN THE WORLD COULD SOMEONE GET A HOLD OF THAT?!" Calhoun shouted in shock.

"Black market probably!" the other woman growled through gritted teeth, "I could get through it if I had the right tools an' enough time but-!"

"BUT NOTHIN'!" screamed Calhoun "Work on cracking that wall, NOW!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Mouse returned, rolling away from another blast and going for her code-breaker "I'll signal you if-!"

The characters around Mouse fell silent as they looked up, a shadow draping over them. The solider peered up, her eyes shrinking down.

"Great snakes…."

And then the communicator went dead.

"Mouse?! MOUSE? MOOOOOOOOOOOOOUSE!" Calhoun cried into her com before throwing it down on the ground "SHOOT!"

Beast Gene once again came down on Ralph, tearing at the man like an animal. As if fighting Gene wasn't bad enough, Ralph knew that he couldn't just beat Gene into submission and just let him respawn! Not in the station!

But aside from that, Gene was proving to be a REAL challenge to Ralph in this form! Whatever had infected him, he was strong enough to put Ralph on his toes!

"Oh my PROGRAMMERS!" Mary shouted from her cover "Why is this happening?!"

"Why?! No clue!" Ralph said, giving the beast a sock in the jaw "But don't worry Mary! I won't hurt him TOO bad!"

Ralph plowed forward and tackled Gene into a wall, trying with all his might to hold him off.

"COME ON GENE! WE'RE….USED TO EACH OTHER NOW! STOP THIS!"

Whatever words Ralph said were completely lost on the infected Gene, the man more angry than ever.

"O-OKAY! Looks like I'm gonna hafta WRECK IT!" Ralph said, using every ounce of strength he had to LIFT Gene off the ground….

And HURL him into one of the larger set-ups in the station, the display crashing down once Gene flew into it! As the display stopped moving, it appeared for a moment that Gene did as well. Mary jumped up, horrified at what she had seen.

"GENE!"

"DON'T GO NEAR HIM!" Ralph shouted, picking the woman off the ground.

"BUT I CAN'T LEAVE HIM THERE!"

There was a loud explosion from the far side of the station, the entire area shaking as smoke filled the air. In the midst of the billowing cloud, a large grey figure flew up into the air, grabbing ahold of the rafters.

"Oh, not ANOTHER one!" Ralph shouted.

But this wasn't the same type of monster as Gene, at least not as uncontrolled.

It was Tor.

"What in the world is THAT?!" asked Calhoun.

"BABY!" Mal cried, suddenly sitting up as if nothing had happened "AREN'T YA HAPPY TO BE IN A FIGHT!?"

Tor growled angrily as he looked back at the screaming masses of characters, eyeing them as if they were bits of food ready to be eaten.

"Go ahead an' pig out dear! You deserve it!"

"NO!" cried a voice from the audience.

Mal looked again but found herself being tackled by a small man in blue.

"FELIX!"

"I ain't standin' around an' watchin' as my home gets destroyed, ya evil lil MINX!" the repair man said, trying his best to punch the woman "SO STAY DOWN!"

"Aw come on!" Mal said playfully, not even feeling so much a blow from Felix "Ya call that fighting?"

The woman then grabbed Felix by his neck, nearly crushing his windpipe in the process.

"YA FIGHT LIKE THIIIIIIS!" the woman said, tossing Felix up into the air, the man screaming as he flew uncontrollably.

"Oh my programmers! FELIX!" shouted his wife from the arcade floor.

Felix flailed around helplessly as he continued to soar, only to see that he was going RIGHT for the maw of Tor.

"Oh, sugar honey ice tea!"

"MR. FIX-IT!" screamed Vanellope.

Yeah, it was REALLY time for ACTION!

The little racer ran to one of the downed tables, stopping on the end that was resting on the floor.

"I NEED'A LIFT BIG GUY!"

Ralph nodded as he leapt up, forcing all his weight on the upper end of the table and launching Vanellope into the air. Tor was about to clamp down hard but found that his jaws were only stopped when he heard a warping sound.

GLITCH!

"GOTCHA!" Vanellope said, as she grabbed onto Felix, glitching again to land safely on the ground.

Or so they thought.

"Don't worry, Mr. Fix-It! We're-!"

Tor roared loudly as he then head-butted the two into a wall, moving much too quick to even give Vanellope a moment to see what was happening. Both characters cried out in pain as the landed, the little racer ending up pretty bruised because of it.

"VANELLOPE!"

"Oooow…" Vanellope said, her arm and legs in pain from the fall "H-How did he-?!"

"Stay still!" the repair man said, "Just lemme get my hammer out so I can-!"

WHOOSH!

"What?!"

Felix looked down at his hammer, trying once more to grab onto it but as he did, it passed right through his fingers. The man paled in the face, trying again and again to grab ahold of his hammer but each time, it only went through!

"W-WHAT IS GOIN' ON?!" the man cried out in horror.

"Aww, is da lil boy sad he can't pway wit his toy hammer?" hissed a voice from the corner.

Felix and Vanellope huddled in fear as the figure stepped forth, sneering down at them and standing tall.

"NO! WAY!" Vanellope trembled in Felix's arms.

"Hello, Vanellope DEAR. Iths been a LONG time!" cackled Turbo, the look on his face not unlike a cat getting ready to eat mice.

"B-B-BUT YOU-!? HOW?!" stuttered Felix, pushing Vanellope behind him.

"Code has a funny way of working!" the man said, chuckling "It can protect you from total deletion, it can turn even the most PUNY of characters into huge monsters, but most of all-!"

Turbo then shot a hand towards Felix, grabbing the man and taking his magic hammer from his tool belt.

"It can FIX those who need the most fixin'!"

Turbo then threw Felix towards Calhoun who was running up to find her husband. Thankfully, the woman's catching was as good as her fighting skills but she stopped when she saw Turbo before her.

"It can't be!"

"Ya wanna see a TRICK, GLTICH?!" The man said cruelly, holding the hammer in his hands "Let's see what this hammer can do ta ME that it can't do ta save YOUR pathetic code!"

"WHAT'S HE GONNA-?!"

"OH NO NO NO! DON'T!" Felix said, reaching out for his hammer.

Turbo then slammed the golden hammer onto himself, a huge flash of light engulfing the entire area. For a moment or two, everyone was blinded by the light. Vanellope blinked, rubbing her eyes but as she looked up she could only stare in horror.

"O-oh no! PLEASE NO!"

There before her stood a fully repaired, fully power King Candy Bug, the huge man looking down at Vanellope and ready to attack.

"Now my dear, sweet, VANELLOPE…." The king cybrid said, putting a finger under the terrified child's chin "Leth's finish what we started one year ago!"


	7. Chapter 7- EXPERT MODE

Chapter Seven- EXPERT MODE

"F-For FREAKS sake, HE'S BACK!" Ralph stammered, frozen in place once he laid eyes on King Candy Bug, the behemoth of pixels towering over everyone, leering down with dripping fangs and glowing, HUNGRY eyes.

"Why, I'm THO glad to thee that all my FRIENDS are hear ta witness my GREATEST comeback, EVER!" the man laughed teasingly, his voice echoing. Quick as a flash, a clawed hand shot out and grabbed Vanellope, the girl unable to glitch from his grasp.

"Tha firth thing on my listh? SQUASHIN' EACH AND EVERYONE ONE OF YA LIKE THE PATHETIC FLITH THAT YOU ARE!"

"URGH! LEMME GO YA DOME-HEADED NUTCASE!" the girl screamed, kicking her tiny legs in the air. Candybug snorted, blowing the girl's hair as she dangled in the air.

"How CUUUUTE! She thinks she can FIGHT!" the man cackled, shaking Vanellope like a rag.

"NO!" Roared Ralph as he ran to the cybrid, taking a long piece of down equipment and smacking the evil monarch on his hands. Candybug gave a shout as Vanellope tumbled from his claws, glitching just in the nick of time to be caught by Ralph.

"Nice swat, but I think we might need somethin' a TAD bigger!"

"How in the world did UGLY come back?!" Ralph asked, looking at the giant character in shock, tightening his fist.

"I dunno!" Calhoun said, readying herself for a tight "But we're gonna knock him back so hard, THERE WON'T BE A PIXEL LEFT OF HIM!"

"NITH TRY!" Candybug bellowed, swiping the four heroes out the way "But things have turned in MY favor this time! Ya can't CHEAT your way outta this!"

The huge monster bug began to stomp his way through the crowed arcade, not caring who he trampled on.

"You all LAUTHED at me! YOU ALL SCORNED ME! BUT WHO'S THA ONE COWERIN' IN FEAR!? YOU ARE!"

The monster then turned, hearing a slight whimpering sound from beside him. His eyes glowed brightly as an evil grin came on his face, noticing a figure trying to scrabble underneath it as fast as possible.

"Oh-HO, and what have we here?" the cybrid sang, easily flicking the table over to reveal the other Candy Racers, huddling together in fear at their former ruler.

"NO!" screamed Vanellope, knowing full well what Candybug could do to her friends.

"My royal THUB-JECTS! Its so wonderful to see you!" the king looked down, almost as if he were ready to eat the children one by one.

Taffyta looked right into the eyes of her former king but what ran through her mind was not fear, but RAGE. Her entire face turned red as she jumped up, holding out her arms to protect her friends.

"BACK! OFF!" Taffyta yelled, brandishing a fallen pole in her hand "If you even so much as THINK of takin' one step towards us-!"

"Thaff-atya! Whath in tha world has HAPPENED to ya?" the monster cooed evil, plucking the child off the ground "Ya usthed ta be tho…thoooo…."

The monster stopped for a moment, trying to gather his words.

"Tho responthive! Tho TRAINED!" the man snickered, trying his best to remind the racer that not too long ago, she was just another pawn in his plans against Vanellope "But whath hath happened NOW?! Don't thell me that tha GLITCH has gotten ta ya!"

"You're SWEET-TALK isn't gonna work on us this time!" Taffyta shouted "We're not your followers anymore!"

Candybug rolled his eyes, snickering a bit "No, you're the FOLLOWERS of the glitch! I MUTH thay, it really is a step down Thaffyta! But considerin' how WEAK an' USELESS ya guys were BEFORE I took over-!"

Yeah, that hit a berserk button.

"We are NOT USELESS!" the girl screamed "And for you information, the GLITCH? She isn't a GLITCH, Candybug! HER NAME IS VANELLOPE!" the strawberry race growled, bopping Candybug on the nose with the pole.

"OH!" Candybug said in a startled voice, holding his bulbous nose.

Taffyta let out a scream as she was dropped but thankfully, she reached out in time to grab one of the loose banners, swinging down to the ground to safety, if not a bit ungracefully.

"You okay?!" Rancis asked, jumping to the aid of his friend.

"I'm fine!" Taffyta panted, looking off to the side and seeing that Felix and Vanellope were still ducking in cover behind Candybug "But we need ta get us, AN' everyone else, OUTTA HERE!"

Taffyta turned, once more glance over at her friend on the opposite side of Candybug. The two racers met eye-to-eye in the split second; they knew what to do.

Vanellope gave a wink, Taffyta nodded.

"'Member the Banana Split formation?" Taffyta whispered to Rancis, getting ready to run.

"Yeah?!"

"Then do it NOW!"

The racers got on their feet, their eyes still on Candybug but before he could grab a single one of them….

"SPLIT!" yelled Crumbellina at the top of her lungs.

The racers than made a break for it, scattering away in all directions and making it increasingly difficult for Candybug to focus on just one of them. In their mad dash for safety, the kids were picking up a lot of the trapped, smaller characters in their haste.

"GRAB AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN!" Taffyta said, her arms already full of Pookas "KING CANDY DOESN'T NEED ANYONE TA CHOMP ON TONGHT!"

"DON'T YOU DARE RUN AWAY FROM ME YA LITTLE WELPS!" roared Candybug, trying his best to grab the fleeing racers but as they scattered, he found there was ONE GLARING disadvantage to being in his true form in the station rather than the wide open space of Sugar Rush.

He was a tad TOO big.

The monster tried to reach for Minty but the girl did a flip and slipped into a space too small to even put his claws into. He made a dive for Jubileena but she too slid on the ground, taking a few tiny characters with her for safety.

Even Adorabezzle managed to get away from him and the biggest insult of letting HER get away?

She gave him a kick in the chin just as she escaped!

"THAT'S FOR MESSIN' WITH MY BRAIN, STINK BUG!" the usually shy girl said, running like heck.

The monster roared in anger but he wasn't done yet, not by a long shot.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!"

"You rang master?!" the woman said, flying in with her back hunched over and a crazed look on her face.

"Round these miscreants up! I'm findin' it a lil TIGHT in here!" the man said, attempting to stretch out his neck only to hit his head on one of the lower rafters. "OW!"

"Not a problem!" Mal said gleefully, saluting the giant bug.

The woman then whistled, catching the attention of both Beast Gene and her almighty, all reliable Tor.

"Get 'em up, Big Fellas!" the woman sneered, her hair becoming more flame like as she cackled down towards the masses.

With the entrances blocked and not a single place to go, everyone was trapped, the huge virus beast trapping them if they even so much as dared hide in a nook or cranny. Characters fled for their lives, only to be stomped on or thrown back near their round-up groups.

"C-C'mon on guys!" said Taffyta, looking back only to see that she was running out of places to hide.

It seemed that EVERYONE was trapped.

But perhaps not.

"If ya can't call this a pickle, I don't know WHAT ta call it!" Felix gasped, ducking down further into his hiding place.

Vanellope clenched her first. She could see Ralph and Calhoun but they and the rest of the Nicelanders were being rounded up by Beast Gene.

"Guess Taffy's intuition was right on this…." The racer said "But she never said anythin' 'bout us NOT bein' able ta get outta this!"

"What are ya talkin' about?!" asked Felix, looking over at the racer.

"What I'm SAYIN' is that Candybutt wants somethin' an' that somethin' is….."

Vanellope stopped, swallowing back a huge lump of fear in her throat.

"What he wants is ME!"

"Nelly! NO! If ya go out there, he could-! Oh, I don't even WANNA think of what he could do ta ya!" Felix gasped, grabbing on the girl and holding her back.

"It's not like I have a choice, Felix! The more I hide, the more damage he's gonna do to this place an' everyone in it!"

"But it's dangerous! An' seein' as he's got my magic hammer-!" the repairman said, turning a tad pale.

"Yeah, that thing IS pretty awesome isn't it?" rang a cute voice.

Vanellope and Felix screamed in shock as they turned and came face-to-face with Mal, the virus once again appearing out of nowhere.

"BOO!" she yelled playfully, pushing the two from their hiding places and out into the open.

"Ah-hah! The mice have come out to play!" Candybug snickered, grabbing both Felix and Vanellope into his claws.

"AW MAN! HE'S GOT BOTH OF 'EM!" cried Ralph.

There was a sudden gust of air from behind the man, blowing his hair to the side. The man groaned, an exhausted look on his face.

"Another surprise?"

Yes, ANOTHER surprise!

Ralph turned to see that TOR was standing right behind them, the huge beast roaring and knocking him and Calhoun out into the open as well. The woman shook her head as she collected herself.

"What was that-?!"

"An' two more ta go!" Candybug chortled, gripping Ralph and Calhoun in his hands.

Now his collection was complete! He had all four of the people who had taken the glory from him. This was just too good to be true!

"How doth it feel ta be on the other thide, RUNTHS?!" the monster hissed, ready to chomp them at a moment's notice.

"Figures ya needed HELP ta come back, Turbo!" Calhoun said, a rather snarky grin coming on her face "You're much too incompetent ta do anything YOURSELF!"

The man scowled but he knew that the woman was trying to catch him off guard. "Oh? OH-HO-HO? Is THAT THO?" the man said, bobbing his neck in a sassy manner.

Without warning he shot his left hand into the air.

The one holding Felix.

The man screamed as he was CRUSHED into the roof of the station, crying out in pain.

"FELIX!" his wife screamed in horror.

Candybug lowered his hand, Felix letting out a painful moan as he gripped his aching body.

"Oh BOY! Does that look like thumthing that needs a tap with your MAGIC HAMMER!" the monster cackled "Oh WAIT! YA DON'T HAVE IT ANYMORE!"

"YOU SICK TWISTED FREAK! I'M GONNA PULL THOSE WINGS OFF YA MYSELF!" Calhoun roared, thrashing and turning red with rage.

"Now see what your mouth has gone an DONE?" Candybug cooed towards the woman "But if you think I'm gonna stop there!"

Candybug began to drag Ralph through the air, bashing the man to and from everywhere! Characters ducked for cover as the man was more or less being used as a huge swing hammer, destroying everything he came into contact with; the side of the wall, the equipment, even other characters!

"LOOK OUT!" shouted Ken, ducking just in time before he was taken out by Ralph, the wrecking ball.

"STOP IT! STOP IT PLEASE!" Vanellope bellowed, near to tears at the sight of her friend being hurt "I'LL GO WITH YOU IF THAT'S WHAT YA WANT!"

"My dear, that's only PART of what I want!" the bug growled "Why just take YOU when I can have ALL of you thuffer!"

The man then clutched onto both Calhoun and Vanellope tighter, his claws digging into their skin. Vanellope tried to glitch but she found that she could not escape the man's clutches.

"URGH! WHY-WHY CAN'T I-?!"

"Can't cheat your way outta this one…." the man said in a sinister tone "This time…we do things MY way!"

"YOU'D KNOW ALL ABOUT CHEATIN', WOULDN'T YA?!" yelled a voice.

"What the-?!" the bug shouted, his eyes glowing blue as they went back to their Cybug form.

"KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" screamed Taffyta, she and the other races barging over to Candybug with a sharp piece of broken table in their hands. The group the jumped forward, STABBING the bug in his leg with the wood. Bellowing in pain, Candybug dropped his prisoners to the ground.

"OUTTA THA HANDS! ABLE TA GLITHC!" Vanellope said, grabbing hold of Calhoun and glitching just in time for their collision with the ground to be NOT as painful.

"Nice save…" Calhoun said, rubbing her aching sides.

"TAFFY! SWIZZ! RANCIS!" Vanellope cried happily, running to her friends, smiles on everyone's faces.

But she just wasn't fast enough.

With the swipe of his tail, Candybug knocked the other Candy racers away as if they were, well, BUGS, the entire group FLYING through the station and crashing into various places.

"GUYS!" Vanellope yelled in horror, seeing each and everyone of her friends being ripped from her grasp once more.

"Whoopies! Children can be THO fragile, can't they?" Candybug grinned evilly, setting his sights on Vanellope once more.

"VON SCHWEETZ!" Calhoun yelled, rolling on the ground and kicking the girl out of the way "Sorry, KING but I think you need a lil of THIS!"

Pulling out another hidden gun, Calhoun began to blast away at Candybug but in his new repaired form he was even tougher, his shell protecting him from some of the smaller blast!

"I always thought that it was THO cute how you pretended ta be tough!" the man sneered.

"Ya want cute?" the woman growled, grabbing yet ANOTHER weapon out from under her dress "THEN HAVE SUMMA THIS!"

The woman then threw down a smoke bomb, the entire area filling with smoke, allowing everyone around the bug to escape just in time. Candybug choked on the smoke, trying in vain to keep it out of his eyes.

"URGH! MAL! CAN YA THEE THEM?!" the man roared, his eyes watering and his nose burning.

The woman was now standing SIDEWAYS on one of the walls, far enough to keep out of the reach of the smoke. She growled, her eyes scanning the area.

"Darn it….Tor! We need ya buddy!"

The massive beast slunked into the clouds of smoke, but as he made touch down he let out a loud sneeze. He then looked up growling towards his partner.

"Sorry, forgot about that!" the woman said, dropping from the wall and flying overhead, her speed thinning out some of the smoke. Landing on the sideways on another wall, crouching to her knees, she looked back towards Tor.

"Better?"

The beast let out a grunt, sniffing the air once more. His eyes began to glow once his targets had been located. He growled, moving in an almost serpentine-like fashion, disappearing without a trace into the smoke. Mal sneered as she watched the beast go to work.

"Heh, enjoy the hunt baby…."

As the smoke settled where the Candy Racers had landed, one in particular was trying franticly to find his footing back on the ground.

Swizzle.

"Urrgh, my arm!" the boy hissed, his right arm throbbing with pain, tumbling to his knees.

"H-Heeelp…." Said a voice from the rubble.

"HUH? Who's there?!" the boy shouted, jumping back in shock.

"S-Swizzle…."

The little racer walked forward, seeing an arm trapped in the debris. At first, Swizz didn't have a clue as to who is was but once he saw the Hero's Duty symbol tattooed on the wrist.

"MS. MOUSE?!"

The woman clenched her fist, as if to show the boy that was indeed her. The racer ran forward, franticly trying to remove the debris off of her.

"Oh my GOBS, are you alright?!"

"I-I'm as good as I'm gonna get kid…" the woman coughed, clutching onto her sides "B-But I can tell things are going pit-zero out there!"

Swizz peered from the little formation, seeing the battle continue as Candybug crashed and thrashed his way around, characters screaming and running in the distance.

"Ms. Mouse, please tell me you know what to do!"

"I-I have an idea!" the woman sputtered, managing to turn on her side "Before I was knocked out, I was able to put in some of the code that could open our games back up…"

"YEAH?" asked Swizz franticly.

"I just don't have the strength to move kid!" Mouse said, shaking her head "I need you to attached this thing to the wall!" pushing a device in Swizzle's hands.

Swizzle shook his head, as if he were refusing the device "B-But I don't know-!"

"Come on! I know ya got guts kid!" the woman said "Ya an' those other lil bits aren't Hero Duty scouts for NOTHIN'!"

Swizz looked at the device before looking back at the battle field. He had faced tougher things than this! He knew he could do this!

Hopefully.

The racer scowled, getting to his feet and tucking the device under his arm.

"Yes, ma'am!"

And with hat he took off….

But so did something else.

Mouse looked up, seeing a shadow fly over her.

"OH MY LORD! LOOK OUT KID!"

Swizz turned back just in time to see Tor barreling down on him, the monster virus roaring as infected data drool dripped from his massive fangs! With a scream the kid ducked, missing the monster by mere inches. Swizzle took one look at the beast and knew he was in trouble. Unlike the viruses that attacked Sugar Rush, he could tell this one was different.

It was smarter.

It was calculating.

And its moves were much more slick and agile.

IT HAD BRAINS!

Swizz knew he needed hedgehog speed to get out of this one!

"Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!" Swizz mumbled to himself, backing up in fear "Nice Virus beast! Good virus beast! This nothin'! J-just a box o' candy!"

The monster seemed to give the racer a sarcastic look, snorting as he slowly moved forward.

There was just something about the way the virus was approaching him that made Swizz realize that someone was odd. Not that enough odd things were happening at the moment, but the virus' actions and movements.

While it was in the form of a beast.

It acted almost…..

Human?

"What in the world is goin' on with you guys?!" the kid cried, not sure what to think of the situation anymore.

Swizz then tripped over more debris, looking back to see that it was the sound system for the party. He made a quick turn just in time as Tor leapt into the air, ready to bite down. Swizz gave a scream but as he turned to flee, he accidentally kicked the power button on of one of the stereos. A blast of feedback echoed through the speakers, knocking Tor to the ground.

The monster HOWLED in pain, the waves of sound hitting him much harder than Swiss had thought. Tor placed his head to the ground, his paws over the spot his ears might have been.

"U-U-URGH! S-S-SSTOOOP!"

Swizz looked up, shocked to hear that Tor had SPEAKING capabilities but he also saw that he had a chance to escape!

"JUST IN TIME!"

Swizz jumped and took off, running as fast as his feet would take him.

"HEY SWIZZ!"

The racer looked to the side, seeing Snowanna running up the side. Thank goodness she was okay!

A loud roar came from behind the racer, Tor getting his senses back together and tearing like heck after the kid.

"CATCH SNOW!" the racer yelled, tossing the device towards the snowy racer.

"W-What am I supposed to do with this?!" the girl asked, clutching onto the device.

Swizz made a quick dive, evading Tor's grasps "JUST ATTACH IT TO ONE OF THE WALLS AN' ACTIVATE IT!"

Snowanna continued to run but Tor had her in his sights!

"WATHC OUT SNOW!" yelled Swizz.

The girl screamed in shock, weaving as much as she could to avoid the monster but he was catching up fast.

"SNOWANNA!" cried another voice.

"Citrusella?!"

"OVER HERE! I GOT IT!" the girl cried, waving her hands.

Snowanna then hurled the device to the awaiting Citrusella, thus beginning the most dangerous game of keep-away known in existence. Every time Tor tried to stop one of the Candy Racers, another one seemed to pop up in their place, taking the device even further away from the rampaging monster who was becoming all the more enraged by the second!

The device now found its way into Crumbellina's hands, the girl running as fast as her dainty little feet could carry her.

"Last stop, Sugar Rush entrance!" the girl cried, so close to the cord wall she could almost touch it!

Almost.

"NOT THO FAST!" roared Candybug, whipping his tail around the girl and lifting her up into the air "Thorry but things have gotten CRUMBLY for ya, Crumbellina my sweet!" the man said, laughing at his own terrible joke.

The racer held the device out the massive king's reach, "Don't even think of puttin' your gritty claws on this, UGLY!"

"Such naughty words from a dignified young lady!" the man said in an unpleased tone "Bellina, dear! I thought ya knew better than that!"

The racer frantically looked everywhere to see if there were any signs of people she could throw to. In the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar candle-headed girl, ducking in fear from the massive bug.

"C-BUTT!"

Candlehead yelped in shock as she turned towards the bug, shivering more than ever.

"ME?!" the racer said, pointing to herself.

"CATCH!" Crumbellina yelled.

Crumbellina then tossed the device to Candlehead but the girl was much too frightened by the sight of Candybug making his way towards her that she didn't even notice the device sailing her way.

"CANDLEHEAD! LOOK UP! LOOK UP!"

Candybug then tossed Crumbellina away, the girl screaming as she flew through the air.

"I WAS IN THE MOOD FOR CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" Candybug roared, his eyes glowing blue and his fangs out.

Crumbellina landed with a crash into one of the fake station bushes, her head popping out just in time to see Candybug coming down on poor Candlehead.

"SNAP OUTTA IT, DOLCE!"

It was no use; Candlehead was frozen in fear, screaming at the top of her lungs as the monster continued to rush towards her, ready to gobble her up at any moment.

"NOT TODAY!" screamed Vanellope, glitching towards her friend to cover her, just in time to catch the device and with another GLLITCH, Vanellope moved the two away from the maws of the mighty monster monarch!

"NO!" Candybug bellowed.

GLITCH!

Vanellope held tight onto Candlehead as the two fell through the air right above the entrance sign of Sugar Rush!

"STICK IT TO 'EM, C-BUTT!" Vanellope yelled.

Candlehead then slammed the device on the wall, punching the button as hard as she could to activate it. The two then landed rather hard on the ground, both rolling away from each other.

"Did it work?!" Vanellope looked around, her hair all over her face.

A bright flash of light ran through the entire area, blinding both Candybug and his two virus companions.

"URGH! WARN US WHEN YOU'RE GONNA DO THAT!" Mal groaned, ducking a bit behind the giant Cybrid.

All the games glitching for a second or two, their characters looking down in shock as a rippled went through them, but then the shields began to fade away!

The games were back open!

"IT WORKED!" Swizz cried in jubilation, jumping up into the air!

"EVERYONE! NOW'S THE TIME TO RUN!" Calhoun roared, signaling the other characters to run into their games and run they did! "WRECK-IT! FELIX! MAKE SURE EVERYONE GETS INSIDE TO SAFTY!"

The two men nodded, running into the crowed and saving as many people as they could.

"I knew I wanted an excited party!" Ralph said, punching debries out of the way "But maybe next year, we should just stay in!"

"AGREED!" Felix said, pulling another character from a pile of rubble.

The flood of characters screamed in horror as they flocked into their games, Candybug watching helplessly as he tried with all his might to stop them, reaching, screeching and roaring about like a rabid animal. He tried to grab characters, but they wriggled their way out of his grasp like ants. He tried to stomp them but they ducked out the way. He was FURIOUS, his anger making his moves sloppy in the rush.

"NO! NO! NOOOOOO! YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Swizz was about to enter Sugar Rush when he felt a hand pull him back! For a moment, he thought it was Candybug, ready for his revenge but his nerves calmed once he realized that it was Mouse!

"MS. MOUSE!"

"Come with me boy, I need some help!" the woman said, carrying the kid off to Hero's Duty.

"With what exactly?!"

"You'll see!" the woman said, carrying the kid off in the opposite direction of the escaping Sugar Rush characters.

"GO, GO, GO!" Vanellope shouted, pushing racers and candy people alike into Sugar Rush "Don't even look back, just GO!"

"Is that everyone?!" panted Taffyta, looking back for any stragglers.

"I think so!"

"VANELLOPE!" roared Candybug, his voice shaking the entire station "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!"

The little racer let out a gasp as she watched the man bearing down on her, a horrible bellowing escaping his throat. Without even thinking about her own safety, Vanellope PUSHED Taffyta back into the game and GLITCHED out of place before the man had a chance to chomp her. A split second later, Vanellope atop Candybug's head, a look of anger on her face that no one had EVER seen on the kid!

"STUPID! UGLY! STINK BUG!" the girl cried, kicking, pulling, and BITING Candybug in the face. The man roared as he thrashed around, trying to grab the girl but each time he made a reach for her, she glitched into another place only to inflict more damage.

"YA MADE A BIG MISTAKE COMIN' BACK HERE, FRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEND!"

"URGH! GET OFFA ME!" Candybug roared, turning a bit too quick and knocking over a wall with his tail.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAII!"

"C-CANDLEHEAD!" the raven haired racer gasped.

Vanellope looked further into the crowd of escaping masses, seeing Candlehead pinned against a wall and unable to make it through.

"SOMEONE! HELP ME!" the girl shouted, crying in fear.

"DON'T WORRY C-BUTT! I GOTCHA!" the raven haired racer called, glitching as fast as she could towards her friend. Candybug followed in fury but the child proved the faster, glitching to Candlehead just in time to pluck her from danger. Being a hair too late, Candybug crashed face first into the wall, parts of the station falling into his mouth!

"URGH! LIL CAVITIES!" the monarch cursed, spitting plastic and plaster out of his mouth.

"H-Hey! Only RALPH can call us that!" Candlehead shouted with a pout, though still afraid of what Candybug might have done to her if she had said that to his face.

"Ooooh BOY!" Vanellope said, looking back nervously "I got ONE chance to do this right!"

Vanellope glitched again but as she did so, she made sure to push Candlehead away from her, just far enough to reach the entrance of Sugar Rush.

"RUN C-BUTT!" Vanellope shouted.

"BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU?!" the candle-headed racer said, not sure what to do.

"I CAN HANDLE THIS STINK-BUG!" the racer said in a reassuring tone, making sure to dive just in time to prevent getting stepped on.

Poor Candlehead was so shocked by what was happening that she found that she had little strength in her legs to carry her but somehow, she managed to tumble her way towards her home, watching Vanellope lead the monster bug away. The candle-headed racer was only inches from Sugar Rush when an idea hit her.

She knew it was dangerous.

She knew it was stupid.

But with the way things were going, it had to be done.

"I've got some things ta get!" she said, puffing her chest out as she ran into to the entrance of her game.

Back with Vanellope, the girl weaved and glitched as fast as she could to distract Candybug, the monster tearing like heck after her.

"COME ON UGLY! YA WANT ME, DON'T CHA?!" Vanellope laughed, pulling her eyelids down and sticking out her tongue.

This did not amuse the giant bug, his arms reaching out and ready to tear the girl apart but Vanellope was much too fast. Every second he thought he had her, she glitched away! It almost seemed like an unfair advantage!

"DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT! DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT!" Vanellope cackled as she turned back to the massive king.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT!" Candybug roared.

"YOU'RE TOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!" Vanellope laughed again, glitching just in time before Candybug could grab her, the man roaring in fury.

Some distance away, Sonic looked back at the battle, a miffed look on his face.

"OKAY! I GET IT! IT'S A STUPID SAYIN'!"

"SONIC, GET YOUR BLUE BUTT IN HERE!"

"At this rate, I think I might be able to knot Candybug's neck!" Vanellope thought to herself, glitching laps around the bug.

Until….

GLITCH!

G-G-GLITCH!

….glitch…

"W-What's h-happen?!" Vanellope panted, finding herself slowing down.

Oh no.

It was happening!

Vanellope looked back in fear, her chest hurting from running so much but Candybug was right on her tail….

And she could no longer glitch!

She had run out of power, having used up any strength she had thanks to her rapid use of her powers.

"N-NO!" Vanellope said, stuck relying on her foot power "WHY DO I RUN OUT WHEN I NEED IT?!"

"OH, gettin' tired dear?!" Candybug snarled "PERHAPS YOU SHOULD SIT DOWN!"

Candybug made a swipe at Vanellope, cutting the girl on her legs and causing her to roll head over feet on the ground. The young girl moaned in pain as she struggled to get up, seeing the horrid face of the Candybug ready to come down on her.

"I need a glitch! I NEED A GLITCH!" Vanellope repeated to herself, trying to gather what energy she had left in her body.

"FINALLY, YOU'RE-!"

DONG!

The bug gave a cry of pain as a chair flew RIGHT into his eyes! Vanellope looked to the side, seeing none other than Swizz and Mouse standing not too far away from Candybug.

"HEY!" shouted Swizz, the boy backing away a bit but still trying to hold off against the monster "Yeah, I'm talkin' ta ya ugly!"

The monster growled at the two but then remembered that he had bigger fish to fry and this time, he wasn't going to let Vanellope go, no matter the distractions.

"Nice try, but I think-!"

*GLITCH!*

The cybrid twitched when he heard that familiar sound, looking to his side to see that Vanellope had indeed disappeared!

"NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" the mammoth bug roared, rearing up on his back legs and howling.

"Okay, we did our job! NOW LET'S GET BACK TO BASE!" Mouse screamed, once again taking a hold of Swizz and running off.

Candybug was so enraged that he began thrashing and destroying everything in sight, his claws going through the metal rafters of the station. Unbeknownst to him, Vanellope was closer than he thought. While she was able to glitch, her powers could only take her as far back into one of the alley corners where she had fallen but Candybug was too enraged to even noticed. The little girl ducked, still trying to catch her breath.

"P-Perfect timing." Vanellope huffed, leaning back against the wall.

What she wouldn't give for power-up now!

His mind coming back, Candybug focused his attention on the two escaping characters. There was NO way he was going to let them get away after the stunt they just pulled!

"Well, even if I can't get Vanellope now, knowin' she'll suffer seein' her lil FRIEND gettin' desthroyed ith good enough for me!"

The giant man lumbered after the two tiny characters, Mouse running and limping as fast as her long legs could carry her, Swizz screaming at the top of his lungs as he saw his former controller following them, getting much too close for comfort.

"EVEN IF I GET CAUGHT IT WAS STILL WORTH IT! YA HEAR THAT?! YA HEAR THAT?!" the boy spat out in anger and fright, his entire face red.

A few games away, Felix was leading the Nicelander back into their home but as he turned, he noticed the huge beast tearing like heck to the home of his wife….

And Calhoun was nowhere in sight!

"Oh no…." Felix choked, beside himself with fear. What if she were in there?!

"What's goin' on?!" asked Ralph, noticing Candybug getting ready to ram his ugly head into the game entrance.

"THAT THING IS TRYIN' TA GET TAMMY!" Felix shouted, taking off without a second thought.

"Felix, WAI-!"

Before Ralph could answer, he was tackled once more by the huge Gene virus, the beast snarling and ready to take a nice size bite out of the wrecker! Ralph forced the creature back with all his strength, finding it increasingly difficult considering that one wrong punch would end the mayor for life. A good flip sent the beast sprawling on his side, a little stunned at what had happened. Ralph got on his feet, shaking his head and rolling his shoulders.

"I get that ya have a lotta pent up rage, Gene. BUT THIS AIN'T THE WAY TO DEAL WITH IT!" Ralph said, rubbing his arm on his bleeding lip.

Gene got back on his feet, looking more angered than ever as he snarled, his fangs ready to bite! The two then charged one another but Ralph ducked in time, grabbing the beast under its front arms and holding him above his head.

"GOTCHA NOW, GENE!"

With a perfect toss, Ralph threw the beast into a wall but despite his efforts, Gene still wasn't giving up. He was given a program and that was all he understood.

DESTROY!

DESTROY!

DESTROY!

Ralph stood his ground, bearing down and getting ready for another attack. "C'mon….I know ya wanna make the first move! I know it!"

The two stared each other down and then charged each other, the massive fight continuing.

Turning back from the tunnel, Mary saw the wrecker fight off the beastly mayor. Words could not describe the horror and pain the woman was feeling as she watched her friend fight her love, not wanting either man to engaging in such a battle. A tear rolled down her cheeks as the trolley took her further and further away from Gene but in her heart, she knew it was for the best that she and other Nicelanders remain out of harm's way.

After all, it wasn't like they could face off against such adversaries.

They were just NICELANDERS, the most weak NPCs in the arcade!

Everyone knew they couldn't fight!

Right?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Felix ran as fast as lightening towards Hero's Duty, trailing right to Candybug who was now ramming the entrance with his head. The only thing the man could think about was his wife and her safety, he didn't give a blip about what happened to him.

"I CAN'T LET THAT THING GET HER!" the man said to himself picking up speed.

Candybug was well on his way to crashing into the game, the man roaring and tearing everything in his path just to get his hands on both Swizz and Mouse.

"YOU PIMPSQUEAKS! YOU VERMIN! JUSTH TRY AN' HIDE IN YOUR LIL GAME!" he roared, his eyes blowing and his long tongue lashing in the air.

Mouse and Swizz were making their way up the tunnel when Candybug hit, the two falling on the metal grates roughly.

"I HAD NIGHTMARES LIKE THIS!" Swizzle yelled in fear, looking down at the massive jaws of Candybug.

"Oh yeah?!" Mouse asked, picking herself up "Tell me they ended well!"

"They usually ended with everyone dancin'….BUT I DOUBT THIS WILL!" the boy cried out.

"Goin' thumwhere?!" Candybug cackled as he managed to squeeze his enormous body through the door, pressing down on the grate to force it up "I WANTED TA HAVE A WORD WITH YA!"

As the grating lifted up, both characters were once again thrown on their feet, grasping desperately at the holes in the grating to save themselves from rolling down but it was no use! The two characters screamed in horror as they slid towards the jaws of the massive cybrid but at the last second, Swizz managed to grip onto the grating, his fingers small enough to slip through. He then made a grab for Mouse's hands but as soon as her weight began to pull down on him, he knew he was in trouble.

"GAH! DON'T WORRY MISS! I-I GOT YA!" the kid yelled, turning red in the face "OKAY! MAYBE I DON'T! OUCH!"

Mouse peered down into the jaws of Candybug, realizing that something had to be done "Aw naw! Just let go kid!"

Swizz was horrified at the request, only gripping the older woman's hand tigher "BUT I CAN'T DO THAT!"

Mouse looked back, a mad look on her face "I'M BACK IN MY OWN GAME! I'LL RESPAWN! JUST LET GO AND CLIMB UP!"

"N-NO!" Swizz shouted, finding it harder and harder to hold onto the woman's hands "N-NOT-!"

Much to the racer's horror, the woman slipped from his grasp, screaming as she slid down to Candybug's jaws.

"MS. MOOOOOOOOOOUSE!"

Just when it seemed Mouse was to be the first casualty on Candybug's list, the woman lifted her right leg up, planting the left one right into Candybug's lower lip. She fought back as the man tried with all his might to get her into his mouth, the sharp heels of her shoes digging into his flesh.

"OKAY! I TAKE THAT BACK! IF I'M GOIN', IT AIN'T LIKE THIS!" Mouse said through gritted teeth, pushing back as she attempted to climb back up.

"UUURRGH! HURRY UP *OOOW!* AN' DIE!" Candybug roared, shaking his head to dislodge the woman.

"What I wouldn't give for one of my guns!"

The monster growled, its tongue going forward and wrapping around Mouse's legs, flinging the woman up into the air with a shout.

"AURGH! LET GO YA CANDY-COATED NIGHTMARE!"

"I DON'T THINK THO!" Candybug cackled, "You're muth thoo sweeth ta pasth up now!"

As Candybug ready himself to make a meal out of the Hero's Duty soilder, he had no idea what was running towards him outside.

A little repairman, dressed in blue, and fed up from dealing with Cybugs!

"DON'T MAKE ANOTHER MOVE!" Felix shouted, leaping high into the air and grabbing onto Candybug's tail.

Candubug let out a shocked yelp once he felt someone jumping on his tail and in his surprise, he dropped Mouse back on the grates. The woman gave a cry but once she was free she quickly climbed her way back towards the entrance of the game.

"WHAT THE-!?" the bug turned around, seeing Felix gripping on tightly "URGH! FELIX!"

The bug's ears caught the sound of clanking, turning around to see Mouse climbing up the grate as fast as she could. The monster roared, his prey getting out of his grip.

"WHY doth is always havth ta be YOU guys?!" the mad bug growled, pulling his head out of the Hero's Duty tunnel. Safe out of harm's way, Mouse met up with Swizz, the kid having waited for the woman the entire time.

"W-What next?!"

Without saying another word, Mouse dove into her unit and, once away from Swizz's view, RIPPED off her party dress and donned her more familiar Heros' Duty uniform! She then ran towards her equipment locker, pulling out her laptop and several other items.

"Here! I need ya ta help me with a few things!" the woman said, handing the shocked racer a gun that was nearly THREE TIMES his size!

"WITH WHAT?!" the racer said, nearly falling over due to the weight of the weapon.

The woman then made her way to a locked labeled 'HEAVY DUTY' and after typing in the code, door to the locker opened, showing forth a collection of various bombs.

And Mouse had her eyes set on a particular set.

VACCINES.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeves to deal with those viruses…" the woman said, taking several bombs in her hands. She then looked down at Swizzle, the racer still caught for a loop "But considering what's goin' on, I'm going to need another set of hands!"

* * *

Back outside, Candybug glowered down at Felix, his eyes glowing.

"You justh NEVER learn, do ya?!" the bug said in a shrill, blood curdling voice "But maybe this is a GOOD thing! I lost a chance at once lunch! NOW I HAVE ANOTHER!"

"J-Just try an' get me!" Felix cried.

Candybug dove for the repair man but as he did so, his other end seemed to move AWAY from him! Felix opened an eye, seeing that Candybug was again behind him.

"W-Whath the-?!"

"H-hehe! Havin' a lil trouble back there, YER MAJESTY?!" Felix laughed, his bravery increasing at the moment.

The monster let out a thundering roar as he made another dive, finding that he was only biting air.

"G-Guess those primal urges are comin' back ta bite ya, HUH?!" Felix laughed, still holding tight to the bug's tail. He knew what he was doing was dangerous; he had no hammer, no weapon but if it was stalling Candybug and keeping him from hurting the Hero's Duty soldiers, it was worth it!

But Candybug? He was lessed than pleased.

"I'LL GET YOU!" he bellowed, primal instincts began to take over as he began to chase after his own tail, starting one of the strangest displays of an animal chasing his tail ever witnessed! Felix screamed as he was spun around at top speeds, his hat flying off but he held on. He had to! Who knew what would happen if he were to let go or even worse, if Candybug got a hild of him.

"JUST KEEP HANGIN', FELIX! KEEP HANGIN'!" the repairman yelled, letting out another scream.

From her perch on the rafters, Mal was just EMBARRASED for Candybug at this point, smacking her forehead with her hand.

"REALLY?! I've been around ZOMBIES who had more sense than THIS!" the woman said.

Candybug was not resorted to bucking around like some giant bull, Felix riding his back like a cowboy!

"WOOOOO! RIDE 'EM FELIX!" called a character from the sidelines, getting excited from watching the display.

Soon, EVERYONE who was still trapped in the station was cheering for Felix, the repairman feeling all the more empowered with every word her heard! He gripped his gloves harder around the back of the monarch's bowtie, standing up and throwing his free hand in the air!

"YEEEEEEEEEEE-HAW!"

"THOP IT! THOP CHEERIN'!" Candybug growled, still hopping and bucking like mad.

Felix held on tight, looking to the side and managing to grab a piece of metal from one of the piles of debries. Lifting the metal over his head, he then SMACKED Candybug over his head.

"AN' THIS IS WHAT YA GET FOR TRYIN' TA MAKE HERO'S DUTY YOUR PERSONAL BUFFETE!" the repair yelled in anger.

The bug yelled out in pain and once again resorted to trying to get Felix off of him but he was much too big and the repairman much too small. Even with his sharp claws, Felix managed to duck and jump out of the way, smacking Candybug every chance he got.

"Ooooh, you're gonna PAY for THIS!" the monster growled, making a quick roll on his sides.

"WHOA!" Felix cried, losing his grip on Candybug, only to be flicked upwards by the back-end of the monster's tail.

"HA!" Candybug laughed "NOW I GOTCHA!"

Felix flailed in the air, looking down as he began to sail down towards the open jaws of Candybug, the monster ready to chomp down on the repair man! Either way, Felix was still willing to go out like a hero.

"IF I'M GOIN' OUT THIS WAY, I HOPE YA CHOKE ON ME!" the man screamed angrily as he continued to fall.

Just when things looked like they were about to end PAINFULLY for Felix, a jet of light and heat blasted in front of Candybug, knocking him back. Felix felt himself being gabbed in mid-air and as he opened his eyes….

"I-is it over?"

"If you're referin' ta me savin' ya from Candybutt's jaws, then yes!" said a familiar voice.

Calhoun?!

Felix opened his eyes to find that he had been caught in the arms of his wife, the woman flying fast on her hover board!

"T-TAMMY! BUT I THOUGHT-! YOU-! YOUR GAME! WHERE WERE YOU?!" the man sputtered.

"Glad to see you're okay too babe!" the woman winked, grabbing her com "Mouse, are ya ready?!"

"READY AND ARMED!" the woman shouted, running out of the entrance of Hero's Duty, armed to the teeth with even more soldiers following her. "GUYS! SHOOT TA KILL!"

A wave of blaster fire filled the air as the soldiers began to make their way to Candybug, the creature crying out in pain with each blast that hit his shell. Candybug was going down and at this point, it seemed that things were once again on the side of the heroes!

At least, that's what they had HOPED

"AW, no fair!" Mal scowled, looking down at the fight from her perch, her eyes narrowing "Okay, seems like ol' Sweet-Cheeks needs my help soooo, might as well get my hands dirty again!"

The woman did a rather fancy bar flip before sailing down towards Candybug, crying out gleefully as she did.

"THREE, TWO, ONE! TIME FOR ME TA HAVE SOME FUN!" the woman said, her hair billowing out into flames.

"WATCH OUT MEN!" Mouse cried, pushing away some of the men as she spotted the virus coming down.

Mal landed with a large crash, the sheer force of the fall sending a slight wave around the soldiers but the virus herself was unharmed. She stood up, standing gracefully as she eyed the team around her.

"Hero's Duty…." The woman said in a sultry voice "They were SOOOO tasty!"

The soldiers drew their guns, ready to fire at a moment's notice but Mouse leapt forward, trying to stop her team from firing.

"WAIT! BLAST WON'T WORK-!"

"TOO LATE!" the woman said, taking a deep breath and blowing out a large stream of blue flames towards the soldiers. The men and women ducked, screaming as the flames missed them by only inches and instead engulfed their weapons.

"WHOA!" said Kowalski "Lil lady has a lotta pep in her!"

"She has somethin' else in her but I can't say, kids bein' here an' all!" Calhoun growled, running up to help her team.

"W-What's happenin'?!" shouted another solider, looking at his gun and noticing that it was MELTING in his hands!

All the soldiers looked in shock as their weapons seemed to be corroding as they held them Mal looking on with glee.

"Just a lil somethin' somethin' for ya guys!"

"These things are FIRE-PROOF! At least in the sense of our game!" Calhoun said, throwing her damaged weapon to the ground.

Mouse's eyes widened in fright once she inspected the smoldering gun closer; it wasn't melting!

IT WAS BEING DISSOLVED BY VIRUS PROGRAMING!

"Aw, PORRA!" Mouse swore, getting up and scrabbling away from the mass of viruses "An' I liked that gun too!"

"So is everyone in the know-how?" asked Mal cheekily, her hands on her hips "Or do I need do another trick on ya to convince ya?"

"I don't know where ya came from, VERMIN, but if you so much as think we're gonna let you or Candybug take us out, ya gotta another thing, comin'!" Calhoun shouted, stomping up to the woman.

The two women stared at each other, the GREAT high difference between the two very clear but it was something to see as Calhoun glared down at the smaller woman, Mal not even flinching at the sergeant's anger.

"Another thing?" the virus said sweetly, a cute smile on her face "Well, why didn't ya ask!"

Calhoun didn't have a second to react as Tor bore down on her, knocking the woman back so hard that she slid past Mal and only stopped when she was a good three yards away. She braced herself in pain looking up to see the grinning face of Mal hovering above her.

"THIS WHAT YA WANTED?!" the woman screamed like an insane child.

Mal then kicked the woman in the face, knocking her back towards Tor!

"Oh, Candybug! You were RIGHT! These guys ARE fun to mess with!" the virus said, hovering in the air as she clapped her hands happily.

"SERGENT!" a solider cried, all before being crushed by Candybug' massive claws.

"You're lil toy's won't save ya now!"

"Maybe not!" said Mouse, falling back a bit "BUT THIS WILL!"

At her word, Swizz came running from the Hero's Duty entrance, a belt around his tiny frame and vaccines in its holsters!

"HEY! HOPE YA FIND THIS SWEET!" the racer yelled, tossing one of the vaccine bombs at Tor. As soon as the thing exploded, it sprayed a silverfish liquid on the beast, burning him as soon as it made contact with his skin. The monster fell back, holding himself in pain as the liquid seemed to eat through his outer pixels.

"TOR!" May cried in horror, jumping up and flying towards her partner but as she flew, she was caught by Calhoun, the woman hurling her to the ground.

"STAYU DOWN VIRUS!" the woman bellowed, stepping on the woman's chest, Mal letting out a short yelp.

Swizz was amazed by the effects of the vaccine and looking up, he saw Ralph still struggling with Beast Gene nearby. The man was now trying in vain to hold Gene back, his huge hands in the beast's jaws and attempting to prevent them from closing on his head.

"GENE! I'M SURE THERE ARE BETTER THINGS IN THE ARACDE TO EAT THAN ME!"

"YO, WRECK-IT!" Swizzle cried from afar "HEADS UP!"

Swizz lobbed another vial as hard as he could towards the two, Ralph ducking out of the way just in time as the thing broke in front of Beast Gene. Fortunately for the infected mayor, the stuff did not land on him directly, breaking open once it landed on the ground. The creature slowly moved towards the spreading liquid, looking at it cautiously but as it touched his claws, it began to burn through the code. The once terrifying beast backed away, shrieking loudly and hiding behind some downed objects as it saw that things were getting increasingly dangerous.

"Ho-kay…" Ralph huffed, wiping his brow "That did help a bit!"

"Now onto you!" Calhoun said, staring down at Mal "You've made a BIG mess outta this place sister an' ya won't like it once I start ta clean up!"

The virus thrashed in anger, too preoccupied by the condition of her partner to even care that Calhoun was threatening her life.

"J-JUST GET OFFA ME-!" Mal screamed, becoming more beast like the angrier she became.

The solider readied to give the virus a well-deserved punch but a swipe of a cybrid's tale sent the woman and her team flying towards a wall, Candybug snickering evil.

"Thorry, but this place is THO cramped! I can barely move without knockin' thumthin' down!"

Mal looked up, a bit surprised that Candybug had actually come to her aid at the moment.

"D-Didn't know ya had it in ya!" the virus said, turning her attention to Tor, her features shifting back as she calmed down.

Candybug chuckled evilly, watching the small virus run to the other. There was just something in his eyes that were off.

Something that said if HE couldn't leave this battle unscathed, NO ONE WAS!

Mal managed to get to her partner, kneeling down to him as she held his injured paw in her hands.

"Oh, those horrid, HORRID people!" Mal said, looking into Tor's eyes sadly "Don't worry dear, once we take care of these boogers, we're gonna get ya patched up!"

"Tha truth of the matter darling…." Candybug hissed, slithering up behind Mal and Tor.

Mal glitched over in fright, her eyes widening as she turned and faced the smiling face of the giant Candybug. The bug then sprang on Mal, grabbing and lifting the woman off the ground as he held her tight in his clutches.

"I THINK ITHS TIME FOR A CHANGE IN PLANS!"

Mal cried in pain as Candybug clutched her, her fire billowing in anger "W-What the heck is THIS?! You're supposed ta be takin' care of THOSE guys, not ME!"

"Ah, I would but I've come to a realization, m'lady…" the man laughed mockingly "This whole time, you PROMTHIED me that ya an' that FREAK would help me win back this arcade!"

"An' you're tellin' me this isn't good enough for ya?!" spat Mal, her eyes glowing in rage, fire coming from her body.

Candybug petted Mal atop her head, not even caring about the heat that she giving off "Dear, you've let Vanellope go an' as far as I can tell…."

The man then turned back towards the Hero's Duty soldiers, slamming them back against the wall and holding them there with his long back legs, making sure that NONE of them got away.

"I'VE DONE MORE WORK TO CAPTURE THESE GOONS!" the man hissed, his teeth bearing in front of the woman.

Mal growled, "YOU'VE DONE MORE WORK?! ALL YOU'VE DONE IS LUMBER AROUND LIKE A DRUNKEN DONKEY KONG ON, YA OVERGROWN LOUT! WHO GOT YA HERE?! WE DID! WHO GOT YA THIS FAR?! WE DID!"

Candybug was simply entertained by the way Mal was thrashing in his hands! It was just TOO cute!

"Oh my dear….I'm thorry to thay this but….I think iths time ta call out partnership OFF!"

Mal looked in horror as she stared into the glaring eyes of Candybug, the man smiling evilly and looking as if he were ready to bite off her head at any moment. Still pinned to the wall, Calhoun couldn't help but consider the irony of the moment.

"Heh, even Candybuy manages to outwit a virus…" the woman said "The man has more guts than I thought."

"Y-YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Mal screamed, her rage building "We had a DEAL!"

"We did, did we?" the monster monarch snickered, rubbing a thumb on the woman's hair "I guess I've forgotten it! Oh well, it was fun while it lasthed!"

The man then stomped on the grounds of GCS, pitting them with his great weight and sending any remaining trapped characters flying!

"HIS STARK RACIN' MAD!" yelled Ralph.

"I CAN TAKE OVER THIS ARCADE EVEN WITHOUT YOUR HELP!" the man cackled "NOW THAT I AM BACK, NO ONE CAN THOP ME! NOT HERO'S DUTY!"

The man shot his arm towards Calhoun, grabbing her from the rest of her crew.

"SARGE!" called Kowalski, reaching up for the woman.

"NOT FIX-IT-FELIX AND THE WRECKER!"

Two more arms shot, out, grabbing Ralph and Felix from their spots, the two men crying out as they were lifted off the ground!

"NOT AGAIN!" yelled Felix, leaving the ground once more.

"AND NOT EVEN THE BRAT FROM SUGAR RUSH!"

Vanellope continued to hide in her corner but she knew she couldn't stay there, not when her friends were in danger. She growled as she rushed out, not caring that both her legs were in pain.

"STOOOOOOOOOOOP!" she roared, running up to the massive monster.

"VANELLOOPE! NO!" Ralph cried, trying to reach out for his friend.

Vanellope tried to dodge Candybug's moves but without her glitching, she fared no better than any other character and just when it seemed like she was getting close enough to help Ralph….

"GOTCHA!"

Candybug SWATTED the girl into another wall, knocking her out.

"NO! NO! YOU MONSTER!" roared Ralph, his entire face turning red.

"Thank ya THO much for the compliment!" the bug hissed, gripping Vanellope into his claws, threatening to pop her like a grape.

This was it…

His collection was complete!

King Candybug was now holding onto the very core four who had made his life miserable but even better, he also had another victim in his hands.

Mal.

The virus thrashed and kicked, her powers somehow unable to overcome that of the character she had helped.

"Oh, this isn't over ya jackas-!"

"Ah-ah-ah! There are still children around…." Candybug said in a gentle voice, placing a claw gently on the virus' lips. He then looked over at Vanellope, remembering that only seconds before he had knocked her unconscious. "Well, one unconthous child but I still stand by what I mean!"

Candybug heard a growl from below, looking down to see Tor glaring up at him, his fangs ready to bite!

"Aw, is the pet upset that I have its owner?" Candybug teased, waving Mal around his claws like some sort of toy.

Seeing his partner in danger the final straw for the creature, the beast leaping into the air and ready to bite down on Candybug's hide but once more the former racer proved to be the faster, moving down and pinning Tor under his clawed foot.

"One more jump otta ya and this claw is goin' right through your skull!" the man hissed, meaning business.

Calhoun looked over at her husband, the man white as a sheet "Stay with me buddy!"

"H-How can I?!" Felix stammered, growing more panicked by the second "No weapon…no ideas….no hope!"

"Th-there's always hope, solider!" Calhoun said, struggling against Candybug's strength "Buuuut….it might take me a about another second to come up with a plan!"

The woman's struggling stopped once she started to hear a soft chuckle but it wasn't coming from Candybug. She looked over, noticing that Mal had slumped over in the giant's hands, her great wave of hair over her face. The woman was shaking but not in fear, but rather in laughter. The virus threw her head back, her laughing becoming more maniacal and sinister as she looked up into the air, her voice echoing throughout the station.

Candybug glared at the tiny woman, his eyes shooting towards her, "And whath is tho funny?"

Mal laughed through her pointed teeth, a crazed look on her eyes "Yo-yo-you upstart data punks always get me!" the woman attempted to say, much to overcome with laughter at this point.

Candybug didn't like where this was heading, knowing full well the woman was insulting him. He held her tighter, a hiss coming from his throat.

"Oh yeah? Last time I checked, I had the upper hand in this thit-uation!"

"Is that THOOOOOO?" Mal smiled evily, her eyes once more glowing "Mmm, mmm, mmm. That's the thing with programs like you. You get combined with somethin' that isn't EVEN close to a REAL virus an' ya think you're a tough guy!"

Mal began to turn in the monster's hand, her smile becoming bigger…

Much BIGGER!

Much to the monarch's surprise, a new wave of energy began to coarse through Mal, the woman's skin turning blue once more as her hair began to billow, giving off great amounts of heat.

"LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL VIRUS CAN DO, CANDYBUTT!"

To everyone's shock, Mal PUSHED open Candybug's hands with ease and so much force that his digits bent BACKWARDS! The man cried out in agony, feeling the inner connectors snap as the woman leapt from his hands and dove right into his face, knocking him into a wall. The monster roared, dropping the rest of his prisoners as he came crashing down on the floor.

"LOOK OUT!" Calhoun said, running as fast as she could to avoid getting crushed.

"WHERE'S VANNELOPE!?" Ralph said, looking around frantically, not seeing a sign of the kid.

The wrecker heard a faint moan from the side, seeing his friend had thankfully landed in one of the torn banners, shaken but now coming to.

"Urgh, did I eat banana fun dip on ham again?" Vanellope mumbled, not realizing the gravity of the situation.

"N-NELLY! GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Ralph said, waving his arms towards the girl.

The racer looked up just in time to see Candybug collapsing towards her but with her glitching energy still too low, she knew she wasn't going to get too far.

"AW FORFGET IT! MIGTH AS WELL DO IT!"

Vanellope forced a glitch and indeed found she didn't get too far as she was still near Candybug.

"VANELLOPE!" Ralph screamed at the top of his lungs, unable to move fast enough towards her.

BOOOOM!

Had anyone been in the arcade at the time, they would have been able to HEAR Candybug falling onto the ground, the force so great that the entire power strip moved a bit on the floor! Smoke choked the entire area but it soon began to fade. Ralph looked around for Vanellope, calling for her.

"VANELLOPE! VANELLOPE!"

Nothing.

"NO! NONONONNO! PLEASE NO!" The wrecker cried, digging around through the rubble to find his friend.

As Ralph moved another rock, something came BURSTING out of the rubble, running past the wrecker and landing gracefully in front of the crew.

"V-Vanellope?" Ralph said in a thin voice, unable to believe what he was seeing.

It was Vanellope alright. Aside from being a little bumped and bruised the kid was alright.

AND SITTING ATOP TOR!

"Oh my GOSH!" Felix cried in surprised, not expecting the beast to actually do something HELPFUL.

"UH. He just….APPEARED!" Vanellope said, looking down at the greyish creature.

Of course, any sentiment of thanks that Vanellope had for the thing wasn't returned and with a growl, Tor SHOOK the child off his back and FLUNG her right into Ralphs's stomach.

His good deed was done for the day.

"An' nooooooow….." cooed a voice stepping out of the smoke "I have my own person to deal with….."

Mal.

The core four got ready for another fight but the virus simply side-stepped them, making her way over to the downed Candybug, her hair billowing and her hips swaying as she walked over to the huge beast.

"Waaaaake uuuuup…." She said in a gentle voice, her eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.

Everyone knew NOT to trust THAT voice!

Candybug stirred, coming to but as he laid eyes on Mal, his once again growled, becoming more monster like as he lifted his huge head.

"YOU!"

Mal nodded with a proud smile on her face "You remembered!"

The monster snarled, snapping his teeth in front of the woman's face "You think you can take me?! THEN-!"

Without so much of a word Mal took off into the air and grabbed Candybug by both his front arms, tying them around each other and forcing them into a rather nasty knot!

"Ya know a thing or two about candy! LEMME SHOW YA MY SKILLS WITH TYIN' TAFFY!" the woman yelled madly as she twisted the man's arms even tighter!

Crying out in pain, the monster struggled for a moment only to find that the virus was flying around him at great speeds, only making the situation worse.

"I promised I would take care of things for you!" Mal cackled "But seeing as you wanted to go off on your own way, I'm only gonna live up to HALF that promise!"

"W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" the monster said, realizing that things were not looking good in his favor.

"Oh, me an' Tor are still gonna snack down on this arcade!" the woman said with a chuckle as she stopped in front of Candybug's huge nose "But ya? Nah-uh, you ain't getting' share'a this!"

"B-BUT-!" the man stuttered, unable to find words.

"TOO LATE!" Mal ROARED, her voice pit deep!

Mal drew back a large breath and blew out a massive stream of her blue flames at the bug, engulfing him in fire and causing him to scream in pain!

"Man, I would HATE to know what that feels like!" Calhoun said, taking the others and ducking down for safety.

Candybug bellowed in pain but as his arms and legs were now tied in knots around him, he was unable to help himself. The flames seemed to spread but they also looked as if they were starting to burrow into his code, eating away at his skin and armor as if it were nothing!

"NO! NO!" the bug cried, seeing his entire data structure being torn down "WH-WHAT I-I-I-I-ITH HA-1010-P1010-1-1-110-PENIN?!

"Oh, it gets much better!" Mal smiled as she hovered upside down, watching King Candybug burn "I'd figure I'd give you a BIT of a parting gift…."

She whistled for Tor, the beast turning on his feet and facing the burning monster.

"Ya hungry baby?" Mal smiled "THEN EAT ALL YA WANT!"

Still writhing in pain, Candybug managed to open an eye and see Tor crouching down, growling deeply. The monster could only look in fear, his blood running cold as the virus started to run towards him.

"N-NO! PLEATH! D-D-D-D-!"

Tor roared, jumping right into the now gaping hole in his cybrid chest!

"OH MY PROGRAMMERS!" screamed Calhoun, having never witnessed a monster attack like that in her many missions.

Candybug threw back his head and let out a horrid cry of agony, his entire body glitching and burning bright blue with virus flames. Everyone still around could hear the metallic clanking and snapping of gears and other things inside the man, only guessing that Tor was making his way through the very core of the monarch!

And up above, Mal watched happily as the monster began to glitch and reform before her eyes, the entire thing nothing more than some sort of wonderful show for her.

"Don't you know the first rule of the jungle?" the woman said in a cruel tone, a smile curling on her lips "There is always and will always be a BIGGER, BADDER, BUG!"

Everyone could only watch in awe as the mass of pixel that was once King Candybug began to reform and shrink before their eyes. What was happening exactly? Was Tor devouring Candybug from the inside out? Was Tor reprogramming him into something else? No one knew but they also couldn't take their eyes off what was unfolding, even though it looked incredibly painful.

"Urrrgh! I-I think I'm gonna be SICK!" Felix said, feeling a wave of nausea hit him but he was still unable to look away from the scene, a hand to his stomach.

Some of the candy decorating Candybug began to drop off of the man, landing hard on the ground before melting into piles of useless pixels.

"Cripes! What is that thing doin' to him?!" Ralph said, the hair on the back of his neck standing up.

Candybug continued to scream but as his form got smaller, his voice started to change. It was no longer big and booming, but rather small and scared.

"NO! NO! STOP IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" the smaller figure said, thrashing around on the ground and not realizing that things had come to a stop at this point.

Ralph and Felix looked in complete shock; there was no way this was possible!

"I-It can't be!" said Ralph, his voice trembling.

"H-how did they-!?" Felix said, his eyes wide in shock.

The figure before them continued to thrash and kick around but it then stopped, huddling as it trembled a bit.

"W-wait….I-it doesn't hurt anymore…."

The figure then stood, finding that despite having been attacked by a virus, it still had a nice amount of strength in its legs.

"W-well, that wasn'th tho bad…" it said with a slight laugh looking down at its hands.

It's grey hands.

The figure gasped in shock, rubbing his hands together to see if they were indeed real.

"I-I-!"

Two grey hands.

One white and red jumpsuit.

One helmet.

Two yellow eyes.

The figure looked at the four staring in shock before it but then turned, looking into a piece of metal sheet from the stage.

The reflection did not lie.

It was Turbo.

And he was back!

"H-HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" Calhoun cried in shock "HE'S….HE'S FIXED!"

Mal giggled, twirling a curl in her fingers "C'moooon, his programing was made in the eighties! It's simple stuff for us to re-write!"

Turbo touched the metal sheet, still unable to believe what he was seeing. He removed his helmet, running his fingers through his mop of hair. His heart nearly stopped at the moment once he realized what was happen.

This was no dream! This was no trick!

Those viruses had brought Turbo back to his FULL glory!

The little man began hopping up and down in joy, not even considering the huge amount of trouble he was in for everything he had done.

"I'M BACK! I'M BACK! I-I CAN'T BELIEVE ITH!"

So happy was the reformed character that he did not notice a rather LARGE figure appearing behind from the darkness.

But the four heroes did.

Their eyes stared up at the huge, brick-wall of a man, his form nearly as large as Ralph!

"Aw, ginger SNAP!" said Vanellope.

Turbo was much too preoccupied, doing the cabbage patch out of pure joy, to even notice the figure approaching him but as he moved back, he bumped into the unknown figure's legs. He yelped, nearly falling on his butt in the process.

"Now, aren't you the happy one?" the figure said, his deep voice rather posh and graceful despite his imposing figure.

Turbo turned, his eyes shrinking once he saw that he was standing in front of a hulking figure, a displeased look on his face as his eyes glared down at him.

All FIVE of his eyes.

Turbo chuckled nervously, beads of sweat forming on his face "O-Oh HELLO thar! Um, n-nice to meet you-?"

Suddenly, Mal came floating down, wrapping her arms around the massive man's shoulders "Awww, Tor! Did you enjoy your snack?"

"It was too small!" the man pouted, putting his hands on his stomach.

Mal nuzzled the man playfully, "Babe, ya just ate the entire coding index of a nearly two story monster! HOW can you still be hungry?"

"T-TOR?!" Turbo squeaked in fear, backing away.

He knew he was in even MORE trouble now!

"Wait!" Vanellope said, hopping atop Ralph's head "That guys?! THAT'S TOR!?"

Mal giggled cutely at everyone's shock and alarm, "I guess some better introductions are in store?" the woman said, landing aside the big man, brushing a hair or two from the his eyes.

"Everyone!" the woman said, her arms out and a grin on her face "I'd like to introduce you to Tor! Or as I call him, MY HUSBAND!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Turbo fell on his bottom in fear as he gazed up at the two larger virus, both eyeing him evilly. Mal wiggled her left eyebrow smugly, her toothy smile becoming even more unnerving.

"Speechless, I see!"

"N-Now hold on!" Turbo stammered "A-all that talk 'bout getting' rid o f ya?! Th-that was just tha Cybug programmin' lcikin in!" the man said, knocking the side of his head.

Mal nodded coolly, floating right up the terrified character's face, a soft almost nurturing look on her face "Mmm-hmmm, tell me more, SWEETIE."

Turbo gulped but his face changed. He stood on his feet, puffing his chest out "L-look! Don't think I'm gonna let a couple'a punk viruses bring me down! I-I've got more moves than ya think!"

"Tor, I think its time ya showed tha lil shrimp YOUR special moves!" Mal smiled, giving her love a peck on the cheek. Tor gave his wife a haughty smile, brushing a stray hair from his eyes.

"You have NO idea how much I've wanted to do this!" the man cackled as he suddenly raised his hands in the air, plowing both his arms into the ground with a mighty roar!

"HYAURGH!"

Turbo stumbled back as the man knocked concrete and plastic into the air but after a second, nothing happened.

"Whath?" Turbo shouted, raising his hands in disbelief "That's IT?! Ralph's been makin' a career outta pounding his overgrown paws inta tha dirt! Cudda gave me a heart attach with tha-!"

"Who said I was finished!?" Tor smiled, suddenly lifting a good chunk of the ground up into the air, with Turbo still on it! The racer screamed as he flew through the air!

"OKAY! OKAY! I GET IT!"

"WHOA!" shouted Felix, watching everything unfold from a safe distance "Ya hafta admit, THAT is rather impressive!"

"Puh, I can do that in my SLEEP." Ralph snorted, rolling his eyes.

Before he could make another move, Turbo's face came into rather painful contact with the still air-born floor, the hunk knocking him through the air and into one of the banners that was still sitting up and there he hung, tangled up and seeing stars in his eyes.

"W-why YES, I would like ta take a lap around the winner's th-thircle….." the racer mumbled to himself, his mind still unsettled.

Mal gave her husband a round of applause at his actions, "Bravo! BRAVO! Full force as always!"

"Can't say those two did somethin' I'VE wanted ta do for a while…" Vanellope whispered as she made a quick glance at the incapacitated Turbo.

"Don't be too taken away! Takin' out those monsters should be our first priority!" Calhoun said.

Mal made a quick turn as she heard Calhoun's insult "Aw, did ya hear that babe? We're TOP priority! Haven't been called THAT since we took out Marvel vs. Capcom in that Orange County arcade!" the woman cackled.

"Is that how you really feel about us, ma'am?" Tor said surprisingly calm, the floor pieces still in his clutches "THEN PREPARE FOR A FIGHT!"

Tor then SLAMMED the pieces of floor dangerously close to the four friends, the group splitting quickly to prevent any of them from getting caught! They soon realized the reason why Tor was able to lift such huge slabs into the air was because his fingers appeared to have burrowed right into the very foundation of them, his digits and arms becoming root-like in appearance to hold them! Looking up at the heroes, the man sneered, chuckling deep in his throat.

Oh, how he missed action like this.

"Yes. This is JUST what I needed!" The virus' limbs began to retract back, the man looking at the characters with a hungry look in his eyes. "You guys will provide me with MORE than enough power to keep me going for MONTHS!"

Ralph stood up, the man more than angry now. He pushed back the sleeves of his clothing, stomping towards Tor.

"You want a challenge?! Then bring it on big boy!"

A spark appeared in Tor's right eye; this was the invitation he was waiting for.

"Your call, my good man!"

Ralph roared as he began to barge towards the virus, Tor doing the same as a an evil grin spread on his face. They then clashed, giant fist knocking against giant fist! Ralph was surprised at how Tor was able to hold him off but what could one expect?

Both men were almost perfect matches for each other in both size and strength; even though in the end Ralph was the larger of the two, especially in hand size, Tor was still built for incredible amount of physical punishment, this battle included! The two men wrestled with each other but Tor managed to keep his own against the wrecker.

"I want to tell you a lil somethin'…" Tor hissed, his eyes narrowing "Once I'm done with ya, I'm gonna dismantle you pixel, by pixel, by pixel!"

Ralph growled, grabbing the man by his arm by the arm and forcing him down on the floor with a large crash! The wrecker pulled the virus' arm back with enough force that even he was sure he could have broken it had he not kept his anger in check!

"Is that SO?" the wrecker growled.

Despite being in incredible amounts of pain, Tor continued to laugh "Y-yes! And THEN I'm gonna take out those frieeends of yours! But maybe I could take them out first and leave you to watch them suffer!"

Tor let out another evil cackle as he eyed Vanellope and the others.

"Yeeess….I think I'll start with the kid first! Finish off what that puny Turbo couldn't do!"

That was it!

THAT was the final STRAW.

Ralph YANKED Tor from the floor, grabbing the man by his neck and holding him at least a good three feet off the floor!

"Oh, you're THAT hungry are ya?" the wrecker said, his voice deep in anger "THEN EAT THIS!"

The huge wrecker drew back a fist and SLAMMED Tor in the chest, the virus flying off to the side of the wall. At first, it seemed that Ralph's blow had taken the brute out but to everyone's shock Tor turned his neck, glancing down at the heroes, his sinister smile still going strong!

"NICE PUNCH, DEAR MAN!" the man said, turning himself so his feet were now facing the wall "But you seem a bit LACKING in the technique area!"

As soon as Tor's feet touched the wall, he used the extra force from the punch to launch himself back at Ralph, plowing right into the man's stomach and knocking him a good five yards away! Once the dust settled, Ralph saw Tor still standing before him, the man in a fighting position and bouncing a bit on his toes.

"Come on…." The man said "We're not done yet…."

The wrecker staggered on his feet, his eyes burring with rage by now. He charged at Tor like a raging bull! The virus only laughed; he knew what was coming up. Ralph would charge, only thinking about hitting him but in his rage, he would leave himself wide open for an attack.

Typical of a man who's only fighting skills were waving his arms around.

The virus readied himself for another surprise move but this time, things were about to take a turn. In the last second, Ralph gave Tor a little snide grin, the man suddenly SLIDING down on his legs.

"WHAT!?"

Side-sliding the virus, Ralph was able to avoid the punch, stopping himself fast enough to get back up, grab Tor by the shoulders and HAMMER THROW HIM into the wall!

To say that Tor was not expecting that would be an understatement! The man screamed as he plowed into the structure, falling like a stone to the floor! Ralph puffed out his chest as he looked at the down virus, rubbing his nose.

"Yeah! Tammy taught me a move or two!"

"YEAH! GO RALPH!" cheered Vanellope "SHOW THAT MONSTER WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE MESSES WITH LITWAK'S!"

Ralph turned to give his friend a smile but something caught his attention. The wrecker gasped in horror as he looked above his friends. Felix noticed his friends reaction, just in time to hear the soft clanking noise that was coming from behind the three. The repairman rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling all the more exhausted by the second.

"We have to turn don't we?"

Vanellope turned around, seeing Gene Beast snarling at her.

"YUP." She nodded, her eyes down to pinpoints.

The two let out a scream just as the infected mayor made a jump for them, plowing into the ground and taking off. Felix held tight onto Vanellope, his only concern being keeping her safe which at this point was getting more difficult, especially with how close Beast Gene was getting to taking a nice chomp out of them!

"BACK! BACK MAYOR BLUEBERRY!" Vanellope said, throwing some of the candy from her hair at the beast, doing nothing to the mayor other than agitate him further.

"HOLD ON GUYS!" Ralph said, running after the two "Just let me get a hold of him an-!"

"SMELLY MISCREANT!" roared Tor, the virus leaping up and punching Ralph into a wall!

The wrecker let out a surprised yelp as he met face-to-face with the wall but he quickly recovered. He then noticed Tor, the man looking all the more monster like the angrier he became.

"Just give me a sec guys! I hafta put this guy down!"

At this point, things were in total chaos; Ralph was fighting Tor, Calhoun was running (and firing her guns) after Mal, and Gene was after Vanellope and Felix! The four heroes who could end this all had their hands full and things weren't looking any better!

"WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE FOR A SPEED SHOE POWER-UP!" Felix screamed, coming dangerously close to the edges of Gene's fangs!

Back with Calhoun and Mal, the sergeant was finding herself getting more and more annoyed with the way Mal was dodging her blast fire, the virus darting around like a crazed humming bird as if to spite the woman.

"OOPS! MISSED ME!" Mal cried, just MISSING her face.

Calhoun growled in anger, simply tossing the gun in Mal's face and actually hitting her upside the head. The virus gave a pained scream as she fell to the floor, a hand on the side of her head where the gun had made contact.

"O-Okay, give ya ten bonus points for that!" Much to Mal's surprise, a ten point symbol appeared over her head, the virus growling as she swatted the number away. "I GET IT!"

"Thank ya!" Calhoun said, just dropping any weapon she had and giving Mal another good knock, this time in the jaw. The virus tumbled a bit from the hit, ending up sprawled on her back.

"Yeah. You're DEFINITELY askin' to have your butt kicked now!" hissed the virus, seeing the woman running up to her.

"I've been trained for years for combat fightin'!" Calhoun said, diving in and making the virus jump out of the way. "YOU, little lady, have all the grace of a kid that's taken one too many swigs of energy drinks!" Calhoun snickered, getting an upper hand on Mal.

Mal continued to depend on her speed to out maneuver Calhoun but the more she ran, the more Calhoun seemed to fight!

"What's the matter? I thought you'd go RUNNIN' off by now! I mean, that IS your best move after all, ya coward!" the sergeant spat.

The virus returned her smile, moving her hair out of her face "Oh, okay! I see! You an' the big guy BOTH want a bit more SPICE in this fight, don'tcha!"

Mal then leapt in the air, gracefully landing on her right foot as she got into a proper fighting pose.

"Fine! Just hope ya can take it, Blondie!" the woman sneered, her eyes narrowing.

ROUND TWO!

READY! FIGHT!

Unlike her husband, Mal wasn't waiting for Calhoun to make the first move so the virus just ran right in, her leg's moving as fast as lightening! Calhoun looked a bit shocked as she noticed the form the virus was moving and before she had a chance to duck-!

"PAI-YOW!" Mal shouted in glee, her foot coming into contact with Calhoun's cheek!

The sergeant went tumbling on the ground but caught herself, hoping back onto her feet and throwing two kicks into the air, each one missing the quick Mal! A punch was thrown, landing directly on Mal's arm, the virus crying out but recovering quickly as she once again whipped her right leg up and knocked Calhoun in the side!

"BABY, THESE THIGH'S DON'T LIE!" the virus cackled madly, getting more and more power hungry from the fight!

"What in the world-?!" Calhoun said to herself, much taken back by Mal's fighting.

BOOM! Another strike, this time a punch landing on Calhoun's lip!

"Still think I'm just a VIRUS?!" Mal bellowed, spinning quickly and nailing Calhoun "Hehe, how in the world do you think I took out that other HD game?! WITH PURE LUCK?!"

Calhoun rubbed her bleeding lip and scowled. She had to get back on top, but how? Mal seemed to have every trick in the book on her side but the question was HOW? She WAS a virus, so perhaps she had just managed to assimilated the skill set from her victims!

No, that couldn't have been it! Mal was using only one set of moves! If she had stolen data like any other virus, both she and Tor would have used them to form any means of weapons and powers to off everyone long ago!

Were the two just really this skilled and if so….

Why were they moving like GAME CHARACTERS?

"COME ON!" the virus bellowed as she gave Calhoun a few more kicks and punches, her sharp teeth showing through her unnerving smile "AT LEAST PUT UP A CHALLENGE! I AIN'T GOT TIME FOR THIS BEGINNER STUFF!"

The virus then looked over to her husband, the man using Ralph more or less as a punching bag.

"GIVE 'EM THA COMBO?!" shouted Mal.

"COMBO!" replied Tor with a nod.

The two then posed as they faced their challengers, a light suddenly appearing from behind them.

"Oh, you have GOT to be kiddin' me!" Calhoun said, placing a hand to her forehead.

"FI-YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" roared Mal, her entire body lighting up!

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!" followed Tor, his muscles surging with power!

"FINISH!" the couple screamed in unison as they upper cut their respective opponents, sending both Ralph and Calhoun crashing into one another at the same time!

"RALPH!"

"TAMMY!"

The two characters last back-to-back against each other, dizzy and still trying to decipher just what in the world had happened! Never in their lives had they gone through a knock-out like THAT!

"O-Okay, you two have some skills! I'll admit that!" Calhoun said, putting a hand to her aching forehead.

The virus couple walked forward, Mal smiling evilly as she put a finger under Calhoun's chin "'Nk ya! It's so nice to hear our victims COMPLEMENT us before we TOTALLY obliterate them!"

"Oh no you don't!" Vanellope said running forward and ready to knock Mal in the head but once again, the virus proved the quicker, spotting the girl running up to her in the corner of her eye.

"HEY, MAYOR BLUEBERRY!"

With a roar, Gene Beast came bounding down, grabbing Vanellope by the back of her dress with his teeth! The girl gave a scream but was tossed aside right into Felix. The repair man was able to catch her but unfortunately, he wasn't able to get out of the way of Gene just as he LANDED on the two, the giant creature sitting atop the two!

"GAH! WHAT DOES THIS GUY EAT?!" Vanellope cried, her arms flailing.

"EVERYTHING!" Felix growled, trying to pry himself from under the creature.

Mal cackled evilly, finding the entire things as sweet as honey to her. "Oh, this is even better than I first thought! We got a new arcade, we got a chance to take out another useless Hero's Duty game, an' even better….we did this all in ONE night! I think this should be a record for us, don't ya think babe?"

Tor was about to comment when a sound caught his ear. The man looked up and gasped.

Motor humming.

A foot SLAMMING on the gas pedal!

"MOVE!" the virus screamed, trying to push his wife out of the way but it was too late. There was a sudden SCREECH and a large CRASH, Mal crying out in shock as she was FLUNG up into a wall after being hit with the front bumper of a car!

A familiar CAKE-SHAPED car!

"I FOUND MY HAT!" shouted a little candle-headed racer, hoping out of her cart.

"CANDLEHEAD!" Vanellope cried in jubilation, though still miffed at being under Gene Beast's butt "Aw man, has there NEVER been a better time for you to slam into someone!"

Candlehead spun around, looking a bit shocked "I RAN INTA SOMEONE?!"

Boy, had Candlehead run into someone! The impact of the girl's crash was just good enough that Mal sent Mal crashing into one of the higher rafters, the woman hanging limp but conscious and more than her fair share of dizzy.

"Y-Yeah! That brings back memories of Rad Racer!" the woman said with a dizzy smile, the weight of her body pulling her forward as she went sailing from above.

"URGH! Finally!" Turbo yelled, finally unraveling himself from the banner "AND NOW-!"

Not a step was taken before Mal fell right atop Turbo, the man crying out in pain as the larger character crushed him back onto the ground.

"AW COME ON!" the man cried out in pain, his legs kicking furiously, the woman laying atop him like a sack of cement.

"C-BUTT! What's with the sudden entrance?!" Vanellope called to her friend.

"J-Just doin' what I do best!" Candlehead said, grabbing a power up from her bag and tossing it at beast Gene. The item flashed a few times before activating, the monster sniffing at it curiously.

"DUCK!" Candlehead said, diving behind her car.

POP ROCKS!

"OH GOBS! NOT THE ONES SWIZZ WAS WORKING ON!" Vanellope cried, trying to shield her eyes.

"I take it that's a BAD thing!" said Felix.

Just as Gene was about to take a bite out of the power up, it EXPLODED in his face, the massive creature letting out a screech of shock as it tumbled off of both Felix and Vanellope. For a second or two, the beast could do nothing more than blink but it then turned tail and fled into a corner, shaking from having come face to face with such a massive blast!

"YEAH!" cheered Candlehead, grinning from ear to ear. The girl's smiling stopped however when she looked down, noticing that not only had Gene Beast been caught in the explosion….but Vanellope and Felix had been as well.

Not surprisingly, Vanellope looked less then pleased, her entire body smoking a bit and smelling of burnt sugar. Candlehead sank behind her car, now hiding from Vanellope's rather cold glare "Oops…"

"…oopies…."

Vanellope sat up, glad to be free, but unsure how to feel from the expliosion to the face.

"At least she has her heart in the right place…" Felix said, coughing up a bit of blue smoke.

"Yeah, but her head is another matter…." The girl said, her licorice head bang turning to ash and falling to the ground.

Tor was much too dumfounded at what just happened to even put together what had happened; a kid had just rolled in out NOWHERE, hit his wife, and then there were exploding power-ups! The more he tried to put it together, the angrier he became, finally snapping and letting out a huge, arcade shaking roar. Candlehead gasped as she turned, looking right up at the huge man.

"UUURG! YOU LITTLE BRAT!" the man roared, all five of his eyes glowing in rage "I'LL TEACH YOU TO-!"

Before the virus could answer, another cry rang from the battle field.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT CHILD!"

Tor turned towards the voice but as he did….

SPLAT!

The man made a yelp as a rather large pie came flying into his face, knocking him back a few steps.

A large, SCALDING HOT pie!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" he screamed, his entire face burning as he fell to his knees in pain "OH MY LORDS! IT'S TASTY BUT IT AAAAAAAAAAAAURGH! I WANNA EAT IT BUT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Candlehead ran towards Vanellope while the virus was distracted but she turned to see a sight that NO ONE in the history of the arcade would even dream of seeing! Everyone looked in shock to see an army of NICELANDERS running out from the entrance of Fix-it-Felix Jr., each one armed with whatever they thought was good enough to inflict pain on the virus!

And leading the charge was none other than Nicelander Mary!

And she was MAD!

"GET READY TO PAY, _**DEAR**_!" the woman yelled, another pie in hand and ready to fly!

Things were going to get busy, NICELANDER STYLE!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Tor had little time to react as the Nicelanders rained down on him, each one kicking, biting, and doing HORRIBLE things to him.

"HAVIN' FUN THERE, YOUNG MAN?!" Mary screeched, scratching at Tor's face with her tiny fingers "DIDN'T THINK WE'D BE BACK, HUH?!"

Tor was about to reach for Mary when several Nicelanders pinned his arms down, biting him all over.

"HEY! OOOW! DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!"

"Am I really seeing this?" Ralph said, not sure whether to be stunned for just laugh at the onslaught of attacking Nicelanders.

"Either way, they're buyin' us some time!" Calhoun said, getting back on her feet.

Overwhelmed at the moment Tor was just SWARMED with Nicelanders, the tiny people crawling all over him like ants and doing anything they could to let him know that they meant BUSINESS!

"You think you can terrorize this arcade?!" Lucy screamed, smacking the virus in the face with several of her records "THINK AGAIN!"

Nel then grabbed Tor by his legs, pulling out one of her pin cushions "This is for making me jump from the building!" the woman said, stabbing Tor on his bottom with a flurry of pins, the man screaming.

"AUUGHR! I'M BEING ATTACKED BY DEMON BABIES!"

"BABIES!? AH'M FORTY TWO YEARS OLD!" shouted Don, his posh accent dropping for his more crass one as he cracked one his ships in a bottle on the virus' head.

"Stop it! ALL OF YOU STOP IT!" the man growled, his eyes turning red but as he tried to sit up, he found himself being pelted in the face with yet another substance. The man cried out in shock, his eyes and nostrils burning as he sniffed the gritty mixture.

"CATNIP!?" the huge man snorted.

And that's when Tor heard the yowling.

"GET 'IM BOYS!" shouted Norwood, a wave of angry CATS appearing out of the tunnel and simply burying the virus who was now screaming in agony.

"OUCH, that's GOTTA hurt!" hissed Deanna, though the woman was clearly smirking at the sight.

To think that only moments ago, Tor was bringing Ralph to his knees but now, the man was covered in cats and screaming in pain. He began to shake the felines off himself, his entire body covered in scratch marks.

"Y-you lil MITES! the man huffed, clearly frazzled "YOU are going to be FIRST on my dinner menu!"

"Oh, STUFF IT!" Mary shouted, taking one of Blake's tennis rackets and throwing it at Tor, clocking him in the jaw. The woman then ran up to the much larger virus and jumped him, pulling at his cheeks painfully.

"I'll show you a thing or two about hurting us you…YOU ROUGHIAN!" the woman screamed her face red in anger as tears streamed down her face.

"Everyone watch out! MARY'S ON THE WARPATH!" Norwood shouted, pushing a few of the other Nicelanders back for safety.

Still in rage Mary began SHOVING the remaining pies in Tor's mouth, her fist nearly going into his throat, "So you like to eat DATA?! Then eat THIS! I HOPE YOU CHOKE!"

By now, Tor had had enough of the Nicelander's thrashing as well as his share of pie. The man growled as he jumped to his feet, Mary falling over and rolling a bit before coming to a stop in front of the man but despite the fact that he stood a good five feet over her, the woman did not flinch.

"URGH! DISGUSTING LITTLE CREATURES!" the man shouted, wiping pie crumbs from his face "You ARE persistent, I will give you THAT!"

Mary growled, reaching for something behind her back just as the man reached down and plucked her off the ground.

"BUT YOUR PERSISTENCE ENDS HERE!" the virus roared, a hand raised ready to strike.

The tiny Nicelander scowled as she looked at the raised hand and just when it seemed like Mary would be the SECOND Nicelander to fall victim that night….

"OPEN WIDE, BIG BOY!"

The Nicelander sprayed Tor in the face with a good amount of very powerful perfume, the man hollering as the stuff began to burn his eyes and nose.

"URRGH! NOT AGAIN!"

Mary rolled to the floor and ran back to the others, watching as the virus was now reduced to a crumbled heap on the floor, his face covered as the liquid seemed to burn him more than the vaccine he had come into contact with earlier.

"Whoa, what's goin' on with Big Tor over there?!" asked Vanellope.

"HA! So my first guess was CORRECT!" Swizz said suddenly, popping out of nowhere, scaring the raven-hair racer.

"GAH! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!?"

"I was with Mouse an' the other Hero's Duty guys! I've been here the entire time!" the racer said, adjusting the vial belt he was still wearing.

Vanellope groaned and shook her head before pulling her friend forward "Good ta know SWIZZ, but maybe ya should get back to what's goin' on with Thing-One over there!"

Swizz narrowed his eyes at the virus who was still suffering on the floor, "I had a hunch there was something about this guy durin' our first encounter! The way he reacted when I accidentally bumped into the stereo an' how Mal had to clear some of the smoke for him! She didn't do that to let him SEE better! She did that so he could SMELL through the smoke better!"

Candlehead blinked twice, her eyes lighting up and her candle sparking "Then that would mean-!"

"Yeah!" Swizz nodded" Tor's blind! An' by overloading his other senses, you've knocked the man out! I can only guess those 'eyes' on his head act as some other type of sensors for detection!"

"You mean, he can't see but his smell is so strong that he kinda can?" Vanellope asked "Wow! No wonder he was able to beat up Ralph!"

"I HEARD THAT!"

"H-heh, smart lad…." Tor said, staggering to his feet, a pained grin on his face "Too bad you're not smart enough to keep that mouth of yours SHUT!"

Tor then threw another punch to the ground, his root like digits burrowing through the floor and going right for the racers!

"JUMP!" Vanellope said, pushing both Swizz and Candlehead out of the way before the vines had a chance to grab any of them.

"Nice to see that you're back on your feet!" Calhoun said, rushing in and punching Tor in the face "But sorry! We end things HERE!"

Tor growled furiously as he tried to make a grab for the woman but with all his senses going insane, he could barely make her out, the only thing he was able to see in his brain was red and the fuzzy black outline of a certain woman, kicking his butt to the curb. Calhoun locked the man in a choke hold before using all of her strength yo lift him up.

"BATTER UP!" the woman shouted towards Ralph.

Ralph smiled, swinging his left arm "GIMMIE THE THROW!"

Calhoun inhaled deeply and HURLED Tor right at Ralph, the man screaming at the top of his lungs just as the wrecker SOCKED him so hard he was clear for a home run!

"AN' HE'S OUTTA HEREEEEEEEE!" cheered Vanellope.

"I-I-I-I-I DUN THINK SOOOOOOOOOO!" screeched a voice from out of the chaos.

MAL!

After seeing her husband being thrown around, anger wouldn't have been the right word to describe how the woman was feeling. Furious? Raging?

All she knew was that everyone was going to pay!

"Y-Y-YOU JUST D-D-DUG YOUR OWN GRAVES!" the woman snarled, glitching in and out of forms.

"If you're feelin' so lucky now, why don't ya try us?!" Calhoun said, ready to send the virus flying along with her husband.

Though she was down, Mal knew she wasn't out of the fight yet; she still had one ace up her sleeve and she intended to use it!

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I AM!" the woman cackled, her eyes glowing brightly "I'VE STILL GOT HIM!"

The woman swirled in the air, letting out a long sharp whistle, "OOOOOH MAYOR BLUEBERRY! Din-din time!"

At first, Beast Gene looked a bit hesitant to attack. Perhaps his real personality was finally coming through and Gene was starting to see just how dangerous things were getting.

Or perhaps, even in an infected state, the virus knew things were looking grim! Seeing the beast cower for protection was something that Mal did not like seeing, the woman scowling.

"GET UP YOU WORTHLESS THING! ATTACK!"

Again, the infected mayor refused to move, the monster letting out a pestered growl as it eyed the virus. Mal did not like the feeling of losing control over anything, especially an underling virus that she had created.

"So? Ya think ya can just disobey a command like that?" the woman said, her eye twitching "FINE! Ya only did this to yourself BUB!"

Without saying another word the virus' eyes began to glow, a strange symbol appearing in her eyes. Calhoun flinched back once she saw the sign, a look of worry on her face that people rarely saw.

"What's goin' on Sarge?!" asked Kowalski.

"She might be goin' critical on us!"

"WRONG AGAIN!" Mal yelled with a twisted smile, throwing open her arms as a wave of light blasted its way towards the infected mayor. Beast Gene howled in pain as his bite marks glowed red, followed by his eyes. He then set his sights on the group of Nicelanders before him, the group still but ready to run at a second's notice.

A gleeful smile appeared on Mal's face, the woman just waiting for Beast Gene to go in for the kill.

"Now, ya widdle puddin' ya…." The woman cooed "Go get 'em."

Beast Gene plodded his way towards the other Nicelanders, his sharp teeth ready to bite into them!

"Guys…." Mary whispered "I need you to scatter!"

"But what about you?!" asked Meg, shocked that Mary was walking TOWARDS the monster.

"JUST GO!"

The Nicelanders then scattered as told, Gene unable to go after them all but as he made a move, Mary leapt in front of him, the virus stopping right in his tracks.

"STOP!" Mary shouted, putting her arms out in front of the huge monster.

"MARY! ARE YOU INSANE?!" Felix yelled.

"YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS, GENE!" the tiny woman pleaded, looking right into the eyes of the huge beast. Still under the command of the virus programming, Gene beast made a threatening step forward, knocking Mary on her behind. The woman was shaking in fear but she was more determined than ever to get through to him.

He just had to be in there! He had to be!

"Gene! PLEASE! I know you don't want to do this! You don't want to hurt any of us!"

The monster snarled again but then Mary stood up, reaching out her hands….

And touched the monster on his cheeks, smushing them together as she always did whenever she teased the man. The beast let out a confused grunt at the action before looking back down at the tiny woman. Mary's eyes were full of tears but she still stood unafraid, glaring right into Gene's eyes.

"Gene..." the woman said in a thin voice, MUCH too close to the comfort of the others "Please, come back to me Gene!"

The beast couldn't make out what was happening but as he looked into the small Nicelander's eyes, something in his mind snapped. Everything was coming back!

Those people he had attacked…those were his friends!

This woman that he was about to maul….it was Mary!

The love of his life.

The woman that only hours ago, he had prepared to propose to.

And yet, he had come so close to destroying her and everything else he loved.

Everything hit Gene at once, the beast growling in pain as he fell down on his chest and covered his head with his large paws. Mary took a step back in caution but there was something in the beast's actions that made her realize that something had gotten through to him.

At least she hoped so.

"G-Gene?"

Gene opened an eye but his face changed, looking as if he were in deep regret. Mary could see the familiar blue color of her lover's eyes return and with a smile on her face, she jumped up and embraced the beast's head, tears rolling down her chubby cheeks.

"Gene! I knew you were still in there!"

Mal looked off from the side, growing more angry by the second. Seeing the two embrace was the final straw for the woman and she wasn't about to let another victory escape her claws.

"ENOOOOOOOOOOOOUGH!" she bellowed, her body burning brighter than ever "You dun toyed with me bad enough now! NOW THINGS GET REAL!"

"Just try us!" Vanellope said, stepping forward, her little hands balled into fist.

"O-O-O-H I WILL, SWEETS!" the virus snarled, panting in anger as she then leapt into the air and, against her own better judgment, began her attack again. This time, the woman spun herself around like a drill, her flames surrounding her and adding to the destruction she hopped to cause but this time, things were different. The four heroes could tell that Mal was on her last tracks and they were ready for her.

Vanellope placed herself right into the path of Mal, a smirk on her face as she pulled something from behind her back.

"Heh, that's right….just keep comin'…"

The virus was not an inch away from Vanellope when the girl made a quick dive to the left, tossing the item she had in her hands right into the face of the charging virus. Mal gave a scream once the box hit her but by now it was too late. Looking up, she saw that the racer had tossed another power-up towards her.

The type?

*KETTLE CORN!*

A large explosion rang on the scene as a flurry of caramel and buttered popcorn EXPLODED right on Mal, the extreme heat she had produced only making the situation all the more sticky as she now laid on the ground in a messy heap, popcorn going everywhere!

"An' there's more where THAT came from!" Vanellope said with a grin, pointing towards the down virus.

Mal glared at the child, kernels still popping around her "You're lucky this stuff is tasty kid…." The woman growled as she got to her feet, "But its not gonna help ya now!"

"Oh?" Felix said "Then allow us to introduce ya ta someone who WILL!"

There was a huge roar and as Mal made a turn, who should come bounding down on her than Gene Beast, the infected character more than angry and ready to rip Mal to shreds! The virus only had a moment to scream before the huge creature was on top of her, his sharp teeth clamping down on the back of her uniform as he shook her like a limp rag.

"GAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M NOT YOUR PERSONAL CHEW TOY!"

"Oh, I wonder how long Gene has DREAMED of doing that to someone…." Ralph said with a smile, happy to see that the turned mayor was fighting on THEIR side for once.

"YAAYAAYAAYAAAAA!" Mal screamed, her voice shaking as she was being thrashed about "OFF YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

The infected Nicelander rose on his hind legs and threw Mal into the air before swatting her away as if she were nothing. As luck would have it, Mal found herself landing atop Turbo for the second time in a row, the man crying out in pain.

"Okay, is ith 'CRUSH TURBO WITH RANDOM PEOPLE DAY' asth well?!" the racer cried out in fury, his hands pounding on the ground.

Mal groaned in pain, hearing the heavy footsteps of the huge Nicelander Beast approaching her. She frowned in anger, realizing that it was all up to her now to get things in order.

"Okay, time ta put someone down!" the woman hissed, her eyes glaring right at Gene.

The woman reached behind her and grabbed Turbo by his helmet, the man trying to squirm his way out of the virus' grasp.

"W-WAIT! I WANT NO PART IN THIS! I JUSTH WANTED TA COME BACK HERE!"

Turbo's words fell on deaf ears as Mal threw him right at Gene, the two hitting HEAD-TO-HEAD with Turbo bouncing off and flying back, screaming all the way. Gene yowled from this hit but with his eyes off of Mal for a second, he had no way to defend himself when she jumped, latching onto his back.

"GENE!" Mary screamed.

"Seein as I won't be needin' ya anymore!" the woman said, placing her fingers on the bite marks she had made earlier, the sight glowing "GO BACK WITH YOUR BUTTERBALL ARMY!"

Gene cried out in horrible pain as a surge of energy rippled through him, Mal still sitting atop him and grinning devilishly. Once the light show was over, the beast collapsed, his energy drained. The virus then hopped off the beast and lifted him over her head easily, turning back towards Ralph and the other Nicelanders.

"I BELIEVER THIS IS YOURS!"

The virus then tossed the beast towards the tiny Nicelanders but Ralph managed to catch Gene before he landed on anyone. Mary hopped up and down frantically, trying to see if Gene were still alive.

"Please don't tell me-!"

The creature shuddered a bit as it then began to revert back into a Nicelander, everyone looking in shock.

"GENE!"

Felix quickly moved over and covered the horribly injured mayor with his outer shirt "What a bad time to be without my hammer for this one!"

"Is he going to be alright?!" Mary asked, looking at Felix.

"J-just get him back in the game before anything else happens!" Felix said, looking over just in time to see Mal hovering over the group, a cold look in her eyes.

Mary nodded, she and the other Nicelanders quickly rushing over to the trolley, Gene in tow, and making off to the safety of their home. Once the group were back inside Felix rejoined his trio of friends, his eyes still on the virus.

"So, are ya ready ta call it quits or do ya still think ya have a chance?!"

The virus smiled, licking her gums "Four against myself? It's so TEMPTIN'!"

"JUST DROP IT, PARASITE!" Calhoun roared "Your luck stops here and if ya want things to end in a PAINLESS manner, I'd advise ya give up now!"

Mal's eyes twitched as she looked at Calhoun, glitching in and out of several forms. The Sergeant narrowed her eyes, her brow furrowing in anger.

Neither wanted to be the first to break.

"But if ya wanna do things the hard way, that's your choice…"

Something changed in Mal's face for a split second, as if she had seen something but then that devilish grin reappeared once more. She then relaxed a bit, putting her hands on her hips and flipping her hair out of her eyes.

"I choose the former because why should I pass up the opportunity to have fun?"

Fun?

Not a good sign.

Calhoun ducked just in time as Tor appeared again, the man missing her by a mere hair. Calhoun scoffed, not at all impressed by the virus' slick moves "Glad to see someone is up!"

"GEEZE! THERE GUYS APPEAR OUTTA FREAKIN' EVERYWHERE!" Kowalski shouted, aiming his gun and readying himself to take a shot at the larger virus.

"They're viruses!" said an aggravated Mouse "What more do you expect?!"

Tor rejoined his wife, jumping behind her and setting his senses on the four heroes.

"Ready to do the co-op?" the man asked.

Mal looked up, her eyebrow arching "Which one?"

"Your favorite….." the man sneered,

Mal cracked her right knuckles "I'm always ready for that one, baby!"

Much to the surprise of everyone Mal jumped up into the air, high enough to allow Tor to take her by the ankles, the woman then falling down as she more or less hung upside down in her husband's hands.

"What in the world are they-?!"

Mal then looked up, her eyes burning brightly "FIRE!"

"SPIN!" Tor finished, gearing up for an attack.

"We have to duck again, don't we?" asked Felix.

"YUP!"

Tor then started spinning on his heels at rapid speed, Mal spewing fire around like some sort of flame thrower!

"GAH! THESE TWO ARE JUST THE EPITOME OF STRANGE, AREN'T THEY?!" Calhoun said as she ducked from the raging flames.

The viruses continued on with their attack, Tor moving further and further into the crowd, Mal's deadly fire eating away at anything it touched.

"FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! Over rainbows and into the stars where the dragons FLLLLLLLLLLLLLY!" sang Tor, a crazed look into his eyes as he too began to glitch in and out.

"Seriously?! He's SINGIN' while he attacks us?!"

"WOW. Forget what I said earlier about these two being CREEPY!" Vanellope said "Those two are MUFFED UP!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"Okay,we gotta do somethin' to stop those two before they melt the entire station!" Ralph said, the sheer amount of heat in the area starting to burn his skin.

As the two continued their onslaught, Felix looked around, his brain working away to see if he could find anything to stop them. He then looked at one of the rafters, seeing a large chunk of equipment still hanging from it. As soon as he laid eyes on the object, the man's eyes lit up.

"I have an idea!" the man said in a powerful voice.

Calhoun looked in surprise at her husband "Felix, wait! You don't have your hammer! What could you possibly-?!"

"Who said I needed my hammer for this?" the man said with a determined smile "I'm a REPAIRMAN! I know a thing or two about structures!"

Felix then grabbed for a stray metal bar lying beside him, setting his sights for a fixture above the two. In his well-trained eyes, he knew that the right hit could send the thing toppling down….

And he was about to give it that hit!

"Okay, big guy! I need a bit of elevation!" Felix said, turning towards Ralph "Think ya can do it?"

Ralph smiled, picking his friend up and aiming him towards the rafters "Ya don't have to tell me twice!"

Drawing back his arms, Ralph HURLED Felix up into the rafters, the little man flying at great speeds as he drew back the pole…

"AND THIS IS FOR LITWAK'S!"

And SLAMMED it on the damaged rafter, the sheer force enough to bring it down on the still spinning viruses. Felix luckily managed to grab on a hanging tarp as he fell back towards the ground but as for the viruses…

"AW COME ON!" Mal cried as she looked up, jumping out of her husband's hand and kicking him out of the way, the debris missing them by inches but succeeding in separating the two. Mal rolled to her sides, surprised to find that out of all the people who had broken the two apart, it was FELIX.

"Whoa!" Calhoun said looking rather impressed "Nice hit hun!"

Felix flexed his muscles, a haughty grin on his face "See, I don't have to rely on my hammer ALL the time!"

With the two separated, the soldiers could make their move, first going for Tor. The hulking virus saw the soldiers coming down on him and quickly got to his feet, ready to uproot the ground again but before he could even attack…

"STAY DOWN!" shouted the voice of a certain rainbow-candy racer, the kid tossing another vial of vaccine on Tor's digits, burning them. The man roared in pain as his root-like hangs began to shrivel and burn.

"AURGH! YOU LITTLE-!"

Another blast shot forward, hitting the huge man in the chest and knocking him to his feet! As he looked up, he saw Kowalski standing for him, the barrel of his gun still smoking from the blast.

"Your turn now, Mousie!"

Mouse then moved in, tossing a strange device towards the virus. Tor attempted to move out of the wy but as he was still reeling from this first blast, he was unable to gain enough speed to even ROLL out of the way in time. The device then latched onto the viruses back and after three beeps it activated, subjecting Tor to a horrible shock!

"HONEY!" Mal screamed from her cover, her heart beating faster at the sight of her husband in so much pain.

Mouse activated another button on her cuffs, scowling at the virus "Sorry big fella, but its time that ya took a break!"

Tor felt another painful shock from the device and all at once, he began to feel his power draining from him, the man falling to his knees as he was overcome by weakness.

"N-NO!" he growled, seeing that he was reverting back into his beast form. In only five seconds, the virus was reduced from a mighty figure back into the strange looking beast he had arrived at the station as.

"We got him!" Mouse cheered, pulling out one of her guns, aiming it just in case Tor felt like pulling anything at the last moment.

Soldiers began to swarm around the downed beast, tying him down but as they did they heard a large, ear piercing scream from behind them.

"NO!" roared Mal, breaking through the rubble, the woman fully consumed with madness now as she glitched more than ever.

"I-I-I S-S-SEE! Y-Y-Y-Y-101001-OU 1001-UYS WAN1001-100 P-P-PLAY HUH?!" she snarled, "TH-TH-THEN LET'S PLAAAAAAAY!"

The woman dove into the group of soldiers, attacking them like a rabid animal. She knocked, kicked, and punched the group away from her injured husband, fueled on pure anger and insanity.

"I-I-I TH-TH-THOUGH YOU COULD T-TAKE ME! KAKAKAKA! M-M-MY MISTAKE!"

"THAT'S IT!" Calhoun shouted as she grabed Mouse, tearing a vaccine bomb off the woman's belt "I am ending this now!"

"THINK AGAIN!" the virus roared as she raised her arms into the air, rings of her fire surrounding them "This time, you AIN'T gettin' away!"

The virus threw her arms forward, the rings launching all around the arcade! People ran for covering, excepting to be consumed if they were touched by the data but what happened was rather unexpected. Instead of interfering with their data, the rings managed to tie the characters in place, preventing them from moving! It didn't matter who got in the way; Hero's Duty soliders, a huge wrecker and a short repairman, two little racers, EVERYONE was caught!

Of course, while their data was still safe for the moment, everyone was still in hot water!

"H-hey, WHAT?!" said Ralph as he found himself ensnared, falling over on his face.

"This kid just doesn't know WHEN to quit, does she?!" Calhoun growled, trying with all her might to wriggle herself free, but to no avail.

Mal continued to glitch in and out of place, her form becoming more beast like "Ya know, I was gonna give ya guys a chance! Perhaps let a few of ya live, ya viruses or drones…but now that ya REALLY pissed me off, I'MMA GONNA LET THIS WHOLE PLACE BURN!"

"N-NO!" cried a voice from behind Mal. The woman twirled around to see a little racer in a cake-themed dress jump from her hiding spot in her kart. The kid was OBVIOUSLY terrified but she put on a brave face.

Candlehead!

"C-BUTT! Put that brain of yours to work girl and RUN!" yelled Swizz.

"I'm NOT runnin' Swizz!" the little racer said, trembling "I'm gonna do what I should have done when I got here!"

Vanellope groaned as she rolled over on her side "Please tell me it doesn't involve any more pop rocks!"

Candlehead growled, wagging a finger at the virus before her "You're not the only one who can play with FIRE, Ms. Evil Virus!"

"Am I SERIOUSLY supposed to find this threatening?" Mal growled, rolling her eyes.

The candleheaded racer then pulled an entire ARMFUL of power-ups from out of nowhere, all of them glowing red hot "Okay, I have NO idea what I'm doin' but I know this will work!"

Swizz managed to sit up, a confused look on his face "What is she-?!"

"Oh no…" Vanellope said, her eyes widening and frantically trying to squirm near the girl "NO CANDLEHEAD! DON'T EAT 'EM!"

It was much too late for warnings now as Mal made her move but so did Candlehead. The virus dove towards the little racer but as she did, Candlehead SHOVED the lot of power-ups into her mouth, looking a might in pain as she did.

"Urrf! It's for a good cause! IT'S FOR A GOOD CAAAAUUUUGH!" the racer gagged, forcing the lot down.

Felix managed to roll over and watch in awe as Candlehead glowed red from her head to her toes, her candle more or less ERUPTING into a flurry of sparks and steam coming from her ears and nose!

"Holy MOLEY! What's happenin' ta her?!"

Even Mal had to stop and look in shock, "Er, ya okay there kiddo?"

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Vanellope screamed, flopping onto the floor and crawling like some sort of seal "SHE'S GONNA BLOOOOW!"

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Opening her mouth, Candlehead let loose a mighty BLAST of fire right at Mal, the woman suddenly finding herself on the other end of a fire fight!

"Aw crud, aw, crud AW CRUD!"

Without little to no seconds to react, Mal took a deep breath and began to blow out her own fire, now making the fire fight red versus blue, both fighters trying to outdo each other! Vanellope and Swizz could only look in utter awe at what was unfolding before them.

"An' ta think! I was gonna ban Candlehead from eatin' power-ups!" Vanellope said, her eyebrow arching.

"Either way, C-Butt just bought us some time!" Swizz said, wriggling his fingers behind his back to reach the remaining vaccine vials on his belt. After a few moments of twisting and turning, the boy managed to break open a vial, the contents spilling out on the tethers and dissolving them.

"THERE!" the boy cried as his hands were free. After taking care of the tethers on his feet, he quickly went to work freeing Vanellope.

"Thanks pal." said the raven-haired racer as she took hold of Swizz' hand and went for the rest of the group "Now for the others!"

Back with Mal and Candlehead, the two continued their firefight but even with the massive intake of power-ups that the little racer had consumed, she was running out of energy, Mal's blue virus flames were getting dangerously close to her.

"I-I-! Can't! MAKE IT!" Candlehead thought to herself, her lungs aching and her flames dimming.

Mal could since the girl weakening and in a dirty move she used both her hands to increase the power of her flames, breaking the child's flow and knocking her back into a pillar.

"CANDLEHEAD!" screamed Vanellope as she watched her friend take the hit full on.

Candlehead moaned as she slid down, her little body falling limp on the floor. As the smoke cleared, Mal walked towards the girl, an evil grin on her face.

"Heh. I admit, I find it nice ta know there's someone in this PIT that appreciates the beauty of fire…." The virus said in a condescending tone "But I think ya need a lil work, SWEETIE."

Mal's eyes narrowed, her claws out and ready to cut but as she approached the unconscious racer, something happened.

Candlehead's hat then dropped from her head, rolling to Mal's feet. The virus stopped for a second, looking down at the hat.

"What the…?"

She scowled, raising a foot to crush but then her eyes went to the racer once more.

The sight that lay before her halted the woman in her tracks, her eyes widening in shock and a look of fear appearing on her face.

"N-No…." Mal said in a thin voice "NO!"

"W-what's goin' on with her?" asked Vanellope, confused as to why Mal had suddenly stopped moving.

With Candlehead still in front of her, Mal began to glitch horrible, going to and from various characters and forms. It was if something had broken inside the woman as she stood before the girl but no one knew what. Candlehead stirred a bit, blinking up and still dizzy from her crash.

"Mmm, what lady?"

Mal let out a pained scream, her hands on the sides of her head as she fell to her knees, crying loudly as tears and flames were shooting everywhere.

"N-N-N-NO! N-N-1010-10001-NOOOO! Y-Y-Y*error*-OU C-C-1010-N'T BE A-101010 *error-error-format*OOO!"

"Holy CRACKER-JACK, what in the world is happenin' to her?!" asked Swizz.

"I don't know…" Vanellope answered, shaking her head "But, CANDLEHEAD! GET OUTTA THERE!"

Candlehead was a little too busy at the moment, taken aback by what she was witnessing; the once mighty virus now reduced to a crying mess as she glitched from several forms, blast of flames going everywhere. Mal continued to scream and shriek at the top of her lungs, her eyes going white.

"B-B-B-1001-BLOOM!"

"W-WHO'S BLOOM?!" Candlehead cried, crawling away from the glitching virus.

Much to the racer's horror, Mal only began to move CLOSER to her, her arms stretched out as if she were trying to grab her!

"W-W-W-WHAT HAVE I D-D-D-101010?!" Mal stuttered "I-I-I D-D-D-1-101001- M-MEAN IT, B-B-BLOOM!"

The candleheaded racer got to her feet and made off as fast as she could, turning before she could see Mal reaching out a glitching hand towards her, the woman looking more than desperate as tears came pouring from her eyes.

"P-P-PL-101001-SE! B-B-B*error*M! P-PLEASE!" the woman cried, bitter tears running down her cheeks.

Mal then turned towards her sites on Vanellope and Swizz again, shifting into her hideous full virus form.

"Y-Y-Y-YOU H-H-H-10101-AD HER A-A-A-ALL*error*G!"

"WE HAD WHO AGAIN?!" Vanellope asked, pushing Swizz behind her.

"Y-Y-YOU HAD M-M-MY B-B-10001-*error*" roared the virus as she dove towards the kids, both Vanellope and Swizz too stunned to move! The two ducked down, unable to move out of the way in time, when suddenly-

CRASH!

Mal screamed out in horrid pain as vaccine began to drip from her body, the liquid burning every inch of her body. She fell to the ground, crumpling into a ball as the substance began to drain her of all her energy and powers.

"Thanks for the save Swizz!" huffed Vanellope, putting a hand on the boy's arm.

"That wasn't me, ma'am!" the racer said in a surprised voice.

Vanellope turned, her eyes wide "Th-then who?!"

Felix stepped from the rubble, a look of anger planted on his face that no one had ever seen before.

"Don't you DARE try ta lay a single claw on those kids!" the man yelled, clearly fed up with the calamity.

Mal hissed but was much too weak to move, instead backing away like a cornered animal. She continued to glitch, the vaccine doing a number on her outer coding.

"B-B-B*data inaccessible* B-BLOOM!"

"What are you blabbering about NOW, virus?" Calhoun growled, her gun aimed and ready to blast.

The virus' eyes widened as she looked back at the others, growling, her claws digging into the floor "Y-Y-You h-h-h—10010001-ave m-m-m-my b-b*error error*"

"Sorry, but you aren't getting away this time!" The Sargent scowled, cocking her gun.

This was it.

It was all over.

Mal closed her eyes tight, ready for the final blast.

A roar.

A large crash.

Everyone turned to see Tor busting lose from his hold, unable to take the sounds of his suffering wife any longer.

"I-I CAN'T HOLD HIM DOWN!" shouted a solider.

The massive beast began to swing the soldiers around as if they were toys, throwing them around into the wall as he ran towards his wife. Calhoun turned, blasting everything she could towards the beast.

"WHY WON'T THESE THINGS JUST DIE?!"

Tor dodged every blast, finally reaching his wife and surrounding her in a means to protect her.

"Th-thank you…." The woman managed to say, lifting her left arm and making a swipe in the air, creating another void door. Calhoun let out a gasp as she saw the two making an escape, running towards them.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTIN' AWA-!"

"BACK OFF, SERGENT BARBIE!" the virus spat out, making one final blast of fire to knock Calhoun down and give enough time for her and her husband to slip away. The sergeant made a grab for the two but it was too late, they disappeared into the void without a trace.

"DARN IT!" shouted Calhoun, throwing her gun to the ground.

"I-is it over?" asked Vanellope looking around at all the damage that had been done.

Calhoun panted heavily, brushing her hair out of her face; as much as she didn't want to admit it, things appeared to be over. The viruses had escaped, and considering the condition they were both in when they escaped, it wasn't likely they would be jumping back any time soon. Still, the woman was furious that she had let the two slip from her grasp, especially with how close she was at getting them…

But she couldn't help it now. They were gone.

"Y-yeah, kiddo. Everything is over…."

There was a faint rustling sound beside Calhoun, the woman looking over.

"Urgh!" cried a familiar grey racer "Lasth time I go for hired help!" the man said, putting a hand to his aching head.

"You're not goin' ANYWHERE…." Said Mouse, pointing her gun in Turbo's face. The man's eyes shrank as he saw the barrel trusted so close to him, a nervous smile on his face.

"N-now, now! I'M a victhim here too! Th-those guys just USTHED me!"

Turbo dropped to his knees, crawling over to Calhoun, his smile looking and more desperate by the second.

"I-I mean, ya DO believe me. DON'T ya?"

Even with everything that had happened, Calhoun's heart was cold towards the racer. She scowled at him before turning her back away; she didn't have time to deal with this. She had family and friends to care for.

"Throw him in the stocks…" Calhoun said in a dry voice "An' make sure he doesn't get out this time…."

"W-wait NO!" cried Turbo as he was snatched off the ground by one of the larger soldiers, his arms and legs swinging furiously "THIS ISN'T FAIR! YA THINK THIS IS OVER!? NO, ITS NOT! YOU GUYS ARE GONNA PAY FOR EVERYTHING! THIS IS JUST THA BEGINNIN'! YOU'LL THEE! YOU'LL THEEEEE-!"

Turbo continued to rant and rave as he was carried off, finally going to a place where his racing charms of his code cracking skills couldn't help him.

A cell in the Hero's Duty jail level.

The four heroes watched as Turbo was carried off, still in awe at everything that had unfolded that night and with his final words, a sinking feeling began to form within them.

No, this wasn't it. It couldn't be it, not with the way things had so abruptly ended.

Calhoun gripped her gun but turned towards her husband, a pained look on her face as she picked him up and hugged him tight. Felix squeaked as he was held, blinking in surprise.

"Tammy?"

The woman sniffed, realizing how close she had come to losing someone she loved so much that night but at the same time, she was so thankful that she had someone like Felix on her side.

"Thanks, love…" the woman replied, kissing Felix on his nose.

Ralph and Vanellope looked at the two but then walked off, Vanellope reaching up for Ralph's huge hands.

"Ya okay, big guy?"

"Y-Yeah…" Ralph said, running his fingers through his hair "Just a little shaken I guess…"

Vanellope looked up at Ralph; she knew he was lying. The man was in much more pain than he let on as seen in his eyes. The little racer clutched onto the man's hands, holding them tight.

Yeah. She knew how close she came to losing someone too.

As the calamity began to die down, the characters began the hefty task of cleaning the arcade back up. Mouse was thankfully able to reprogram Felix's hammer back to his code which meant by arcade's opening, things would be back to normal in Fix-it-Felix. But despite everything being put back together, there was a new sense of dread in the arcade.

In the past, their biggest worry had been the return of King Candybug but as everyone witnessed, there was always something bigger, something BADDER lurking out for them. If two viruses could take out Candybug, what else did they have to worry about? Hero's Duty was a great resource to the arcade than ever now, being the only arm of resource in case of another attack but what would happen if they were taken out? Who would they fall back on?

Litwak's was on edge more than ever.


	12. Finale

Finale

"Now, I'm gonna ask this again…." Calhoun said in a low voice "Where exactly did you find out about those two?"

"Wouldn't ya like ta know." Turbo huffed as he laid back on his cot, his arms behind his head.

"Look,TURBO! We don't have time to play games!" the woman roared, taking a threatening step towards the prison cell "Remember, since you're back in the arcade, if those things try to take this place out, YOU'RE goin' too!"

Turbo was unmoved by the threats, his foot kicking in the air plafyfully.

"Like I thaid, CUTIE, my memory is a lil sketchy when that virus game me a thystem reboot!" the man then grinned at Calhoun, giving his forehead a little tap "I JUSTH can't remember a thing!"

The woman knew that the racer was lying but at the moment, nothing was moving him. She sighed heavily as she turned, giving Turbo a frosty glare.

"Alright, we'll play you're little game but I know soon, you're gonna get tired of this Turbo."

The man frowned, turning his head towards Calhoun "An' whath makes ya say THAT?!"

"Because I know you're type. Ya try ta play hard but once ya get corned n' caged, you'll break."

Calhoun got up, preparing to leave, but as she neared the entrance of the prison block she stopped, her head turning a bit. There was a smile on her face, one that Turbo found rather unnerving.

"That's why ya were so desperate to take over Sugar Rush, right? Ya couldn't just couldn't STAND the thought of not bein' able to do your thing. In this case, ya couldn't stand the thought about us movin' on with our lives without ya…That's why ya went out of your way to find people to HELP you take over again."

The woman ran a hand through her hair, a hand placed on her hip as she looked directly at Turbo, enjoying his worsening mood, "You're locked up now. You're locked up and you have NO outlet for anything. No attention, no glory, no racing. It's gonna wear on ya soon. Soon, you'll be BEGGIN' for us ta let ya out and when that happens, I'll be right there, enjoying EVERY moment of it."

The woman put her hand on the lock pad, opening the door. Before she left, she made one more turn towards the race "Think about it Turbo. So much pain could be avoided if you just told us about those two but since you've chosen the hard route, looks like I can't help ya."

Turbo growled angrily, his cheeks burning red as he glared at the woman with balled fist but still, he said nothing. Not so much because he wanted to keep his knowledge of Mal and Tor away from the sergeant.

But because he knew what she had said was true.

And that's what made him even more furious.

The door to the prison block slammed shut, leaving Turbo alone to stew in his anger but he wasn't the only one who was angry. Calhoun was as well, having not gotten any closer to figuring out the true identities of the viruses or where they had originated from.

"So, got anything out of him?" asked Ralph.

"Not a word…." The woman said shaking her head "I gotta hand it to the lil guy, he's a tough nut to crack!"

"Aw, come on Sarge! Tell me there's another way we can learn about those guys aside from Turbo!"

"Well…" Calhoun said, putting a hand on her chin "Since we have modem set up in our cabinet, my team and I can see if we can dig up as much dirt as we can! Contact other arcades, look through old virus attack reports! We might find something but it might take a while to find a true origin on these two, even their current location!"

Ralph let out a groan, leaning on the wall "Just so long as we find those guys and stop them from comin' back…or goin' to another arcade…"

"That's the big thing, Ralph." Calhoun said in a worried tone "We can warn other arcades as much as we can about those two but with the power they have? Who knows if anyone else can take 'em…"

* * *

"So are you guys alright?!" asked Taffyta, holding onto Vanellope tightly.

"We're fine!" the raven racer said "Don't get your roots in a bunch!"

"I'M NOT!" the strawberry racer said angrily "It's just that this is the SECOND virus attack we've had here! It's like this place is JINXED or somethin'!"

"I wouldn't say JINXED!" Swizz said with a nervous laugh, his hand on the back of his neck "Buy, hey! We kicked butt again! Not bad for a coupl'a kids!"

Vanellope looked down at her feet, a little unsure on how to reply "Y-yeah! An' since ya guys were given the position of Scouts by HD, I feel EXTRA safe now!"

Taffyta gave Swizzle an unsure look but some of her fear started to wash away, a smile forming on her face.

"I suppose you're right…" the strawberry racer said, trying to reassure herself "Heh! Yeah! I mean, we took on Candybug AND two viruses! If that's not a record for success, I don't know what is!"

"R-right!" Vanellope said, forcing a smile "An' besides, what we NEED ta worry about is RACIN'! Not about some ugly-butt viruses!"

"YEAH!" cheered Swizz and Taffyta, the two running towards the garage.

While seeing her friends did put an air of comfort in Vanellope, she still felt a growing pit of worry in her stomach. She knew it. Everyone knew it; things were only going to get bigger for her and her responsibilities of keeping her friends safe had only increased.

She wasn't ready for this, not in the least.

Maybe if she had those fifteen years to prepare, she would be more certain. But now?

She was going to need the help of her friends more than ever.

The girl put her hands in her pockets as she made her way to the track but a sight caught her attention.

"Huh?"

Candlehead was sitting alone, looking out towards Milk n' Cookies Falls.

"What's she doin'?"

Vanellope walked over to her friend, a little taken aback by how upset she looked. Her candle had gone out completely and the usual brightness that hung around the girl had faded a bit.

"C-B-" Vanellope stopped "Candlehead?"

The candleheaded racer didn't answer, her attention clearly on something else. Vanellope walked a little closer, tapping her friend on the shoulder.

"Arcade to, Candlehead. Are ya there?"

"What did that lady mean by BLOOM?" the racer said, looking a might frustrated.

"Huh?"

Candlehead looked at Vanellope, becoming a might worried "She…she called me Bloom?"

Vanellope let out a small chuckle, sitting next to the girl "C'mon, Candle! That virus was CLEARLY insane at that point! It was probably a buncha nonsense!"

Candlehead shivered a bit, holding her arms "I dunno Nelly…th-there was just somethin' about the way she…she looked at us! The way she looked at ME…."

Vanellope couldn't help but trembled at how Mal had turned on both she and Swizz, going on about how they had taken something from her, but what. What did they have to do with it? The raven-haired racer sighed, putting an arm around Candlehead and leaning on her a bit.

"Candlehead. Let's just forget it, okay? Let's just forget about all of it…."

* * *

"My hammer did as much repair as it could…." Felix said with a sigh "But right now, Gene'll need a few days of rest for the vaccine to go through his system."

"Thank you…" Mary said, giving the repair man a tight hug "I-I'm just glad that he's back."

"Yeah…" Felix said, tipping his hat up "I'm just sorry things had to go this way."

"What do you mean?" Mary asked, looking up at Felix.

"Er, what I mean is!"

Felix blushed as he looked down at the worried woman, realizing that he had said too much. He sighed heavily as he looked back at the mayor in his bed.

"Mary….you need to talk to Gene. He has something he wants to say to you."

Mary blinked in confusion but nodded her head, walking quietly into the mayor's bedroom, Felix shutting the door behind her.

"G-Gene?"

The mayor moaned softly but as soon as he saw his love approaching him, a small smile appeared on his face.

"M-Mary…."

The woman smiled, her cheeks glowing "Shh, shh! Yes, I'm here darling."

The mayor struggled to sit up, moaning in pain as his entire body still ached from the battle the other day.

"D-Don't force yourself!" Mary said, helping the man sit up.

Once the mayor was sure he could sit without feeling too much pain, he looked over to his love, the very sight of her making him feel better.

"I-I'm glad to see that you're safe…." Gene said softly, putting his hand on Mary's.

"If there is anyone who should be thankful someone is safe, its ME!" Mary replied "I…I almost lost you out there Gene and if I had-!"

She stopped, putting a hand to her mouth "I….I don't know what I would have done….."

The two sat in silence for a while, just not sure what to say. There was such a mix of emotions that both Nicelanders were feeling but on top of it all, they were just happy that they were together once again.

"I-I want to ask one thing…." The man said, his face turned away from Mary's.

"Yes?"

"H-how much damage did I do?" the mayor asked, rubbing his mustache subconsciously, "I d-didn't hurt anyone, d-did I?"

The woman looked a little stunned by what Gene was asking her but she softened a bit. She knew the truth of what happened but she also knew that if Gene knew the full details of everything, he would never be able to forgive himself.

"Dear, what matters is that you're back. We don't need to talk about what happened when you were infected…."

"YES, yes we do! I HAVE to know!" the man said, moving closer to Mary "I-I want to know if I hurt anyone, especially YOU!"

There was a look of desperation in Gene's eyes; he wanted to know because he couldn't bear the thought that he had lost control at some point of the fight.

"Gene, if you have any doubts, if you have any guilt. I want you to know this…" the woman said, putting a hand on the mayors cheek "That wasn't you…"

"T-tell that to everyone I attacked…." Gene said, a bit of a pout coming on his face.

"No! NO! It wasn't!" Mary said, taking Gene's hands once again "That THING that attacked us? It was a monster! A beast those two horrid viruses created! I know the real Gene would NEVER attack anyone like that!"

"R-right…." The man said, still not believing Mary's words.

"Gene….you want to know when I knew the REAL you had come back?" the woman said softly "I knew you were still in there the moment I could see those blue eyes of yours again."

"M-my eyes?" Gene said weakly.

"Yes…" Mary nodded "The beast…it didn't have the same loving eyes that you have. The same eyes that bring me happiness whenever I see them. The moment I saw those return, I knew you had come back!"

Gene bit his lip, trying not to look too upset in front of Mary but he was finding it increasingly difficult, his face turning red.

"M-Mary, I-!"

The two looked at each other for a moment, Gene sniffing back.

"I'm sorry!" Gene said, embracing his love in a hug "I'm sorry I put everyone in danger!"

Mary held tightly onto Gene, burying her face in his chest "Dear….it's alright. At least we're back together…"

The man then looked over to the side table, noticing that the top drawer was slightly cracked open. Peering inside he saw it.

The ring box!

But he was sure he had lost it in the melee!

Gene let go of Mary and looked inside the drawer, pulling out the box and finding a small note tucked inside, the handwriting looking very familiar.

_Gene, you already went through enough. I didn't want you to lose out on something to make you happy._

_Ralph._

Ralph?

Ralph had found the box.

Gene chuckled softly, a tear coming down his eyes once he realized how lucky he was.

"Dear, what's wrong?" Mary asked in a worried tone.

Gene shook his head, a smile on his face "Darling, I have another question to ask…."

"Y-yes? What is it?" the woman said nervously.

The chubby Nicelander didn't say another word as he opened the box and removed the ring. He then took Mary's hand gently into his own, slipping the beautiful gem on her finger, the woman lost for words. She gazed at Gene, the man smiling at her warmly.

"Mary…..will you marry me?"

* * *

Deep within the millions of cords, connecting people around the world, there are just as many black markets. These are the places those who want to hide go. These are the places where those who want to run away from their past go.

These are the places those who want to bury their pain go.

Inside a little run down motel lay Mal, the woman still huddled as the bright light of the motel sign flashed in her eyes.

She didn't move, she didn't blink. She was just so angry over everything that had happened.

"We let 'em get away…." The woman growled "WE. LET THEM. GET. AWAY!"

In her rush of anger, Mal rolled of the bed and hurled the side lamp at the wall. She panted, her hair starting to flutter again but a sharp pain rippled through her. She cringed, flopping back on the bed.

"Yeah…stupid vaccine still burns…" she hissed "Might take a while to get a full heal…."

"So until then, we're staying put dear?"

Mal looked up, seeing Tor coming into the room, his arms filled with various items and rations. The woman eyed her husband up and down before turning up her nose and laying down.

"You've been busy…how many did ya have to eat to get back?"

"I'll leave the guessing up to you…" Tor said in a rather haughty tone, shoving a bun into his mouth "You know how much it takes to fill me up!"

Tor moved towards the bed, sitting on the floor as he placed a hand on his wife's back.

"Darling?"

"WHAT?"

"What happened back there?"

Mal turned, glaring at her large husband "What are ya goin' about?!"

"What I'm 'goin' on about' is that little display with the sugar brats. You seemed to have went through another error…"

The woman sat up on the bed, crossing her legs and looking down at her husband as if he were crazy, "Babe, ya keep tellin' me about that but….but I don't know!"

Mal put her hands to her head "I-I just couldn't tell ya what happened because I don't remember! "

"You don't?"

"NO!"

Tor rolled over a bit, his eyebrow arching "Not even when you keep talkin' about this Bloom person?"

The woman stopped; there was that name again. She had no idea what it meant but as the word passed her husband's lip, something inside of her seemed to lurch. She couldn't explain it. Was it the name of a person she had taken out before? Was it a pass code, a cheat, a name in the credits, a gaming company?

The woman didn't have an answer.

And yet…despite all the mystery behind it, her mind was telling her that there was something more to it.

But she had had enough. The woman reached down and grabbed her husband by the cheeks, squishing them.

"Oh big Tory, there are some things we shouldn't probably not go too deep into…."

"Mpphf. If you thay tho…." The man pulled away, resting his head on the mattress of the bed "But…moving on to a much more important question."

"An' what would that be?" the woman asked in an annoyed voice, taking one of the bun's from Tor's bag.

"When are we going back?"

Mal took a bite of the bun, her eyes glaring at Tor "Goin' back WHERE?"

"To that arcade…." The man hissed "Don't even ATTEMPT to hide it from me, love. You want to go back. I KNOW you want to go back."

The virus clenched her first, flames starting to rise from her again. Mal wanted to go back to Litwak's more than anything in the world. She had been used, humiliated, and most of all, she had missed her mark.

She and her husband had not taken out a SINGLE game, a first in their long run of traveling through the cord. Their perfect record streak was now broken and it was thanks in part to those upstart characters from Litwak's.

A wrecker.

A repair man.

A marine.

And a little girl.

The woman took another bite of the bun, scowling.

"I do believe you're right, TOR. That arcade does deserve another visit from us…."

A smile began to creep on her face, the very thought of getting her revenge on those who had stopped her only making her hungrier.

"And when we do come back, we have to show them what happens when you mess with us!"


End file.
